The Saturday Paper, 6 December 2017:
Attorney-General George Brandis has confirmed immigration minister Peter Dutton will take up the new home affairs “super ministry” on December 17. The home affairs portfolio, announced in July, will give Dutton sweeping powers over Australia’s intelligence, security and border control apparatuses, and has been criticised for centralising too much authority under one figure and stripping the attorney-general position of its ability to hold security agencies accountable. Brandis denied rumours he will retire from politics before the December reshuffle, saying he intended to stay put. Last week a Canberra Times investigation found a web user with an IP address connected to the Australian Taxation Office edited Dutton’s Wikipedia page, briefly changing his middle name to “Lucifer”.
The Home
Affairs super portfolio will merge Australia’s immigration, border
protection, law enforcement and domestic security agencies in a single
portfolio, including spy agency ASIO, the Federal Police, Border Force and
the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission - under the control of millionaire
former Queensland police officer and Liberal National Party MP for Dickson Peter Dutton, with allegedly increased oversight by Australian
Attorney-General and Liberal Senator for Queensland George Brandis.
A political pairing
from Queensland which may yet turn out to be the stuff of nightmares, given these two gentlmen's attitudes to human rights and civil liberties.
No comments:
Post a Comment