THE decade after the 9/11 strikes unleashed such a frantic response in Australia that 54 new anti-terror laws were passed federally, according to a study that suggests their reach surpassed measures even taken in the US.
Most activity occurred under the prime ministerial watch of John Howard - on average a new anti-terror statute passed nearly every seven weeks until he was defeated.
Labor in opposition supported most of the statutes, commonly running to hundreds of pages, but on returning to government, the pace slowed. In the Rudd-Gillard era, from November 2007 to September 11, 2011, only six anti-terror laws were enacted.
University of New South Wales' Professor George Williams, who conducted the first count undertaken of national anti-terror laws, said the scope exceeded measures in countries facing more severe threats.
He also cited power given to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to be able to detain and question ''non-suspect citizens'' for up to a week as unique among comparable legal systems.
Australia has also copied many anti-terror measures from Britain without replicating equivalent safeguards such as a national human rights law.
The legacy was an ''extraordinary bout of lawmaking'' in the post-9/11 decade, with many measures challenging long understood assumptions of criminal and other law, he said.
The problem it presented was not just a legal one but had a social dimension.
''The disproportionality of the laws can also lead to grievance and alienation - so this is not just a problem of overbearing laws having an undue impact upon human rights.''
Key aspects of anti-terror laws had been ''almost exclusively'' applied to members of the Muslim community and their organisations, Professor Williams said.
''Despite terrorism being a phenomenon that applies across a large range of political ideologies and religions, 16 of the 17 organisations currently proscribed by the Australian government are in some ways associated with Islamic goals or ideology.''
Professor Williams said anti-terror laws, however, had a role to play in the prevention of terrorist attacks.
Since 2000, there have been four major plots disrupted in Australia and 38 people charged with terrorism offences. Of these, 23 have been convicted.
Meanwhile, in a federal government push for a renewed burst of activity on national security, Parliament's joint committee on intelligence and security is assessing more than 40 proposals expanding intelligence-gathering powers. It may be the most significant expansion of national security powers since the Howard reforms of 2005.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon expressed doubt at the weekend about the most controversial of the proposals - a plan to force internet providers to store the web history of all Australians for up to two years.
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