Cabinet Files - YOUR right to remain silent nearly removed by Howard

Make no mistake that the people in government treat their tax slave population as their primary enemy.

Every single new law being put into circulation is another action that either enslaves the herd population even more or removes their lawful rights.

As a result of the "Cabinet Files" government stuff up, information has made it into the public with regards to certain workings within government.

This information should be in the public arena, especially the documentation that does not jeopardise "national security" (whatever that means) that has been marked AUSTEO (which means they are to be seen by "Australian eyes only".

A fundamental of criminal law is that one has the right to remain silent in order not to self incriminate, a law also the members of police are fully aware of and exercise this right also.

Ex prime minister Mr. John Howard nearly took this right away from the people of Australia.

Now is that an honourable action, by a person in a position of authority?

We know that if this law would have been passed it would have been done so unlawfully.

All part of the Penal Colony Policies in force for the Police State of Australia.

See text from abc.net.au under the  headline:

Right to remain silent nearly removed under Howard

John Howard's National Security Committee (NSC) gave serious consideration to removing an individual's unfettered right to remain silent when questioned by police.

The powerful committee's debate on counter-terrorism laws came just after the arrest of Mohammed Haneef and is documented in files marked "secret" and "AUSTEO", which stands for Australian eyes only.

Dr Haneef was accused of providing assistance in the 2007 Glasgow terror attack, but amid huge public controversy, the allegations were later disproven and Dr Haneef was awarded compensation by the Australian government.

The cabinet documents reveal then-attorney-general Philip Ruddock pushed for a range of new offences while Dr Haneef was still under investigation.

Critically, one of the proposals was to modify the right to remain silent during a terrorism investigation.

"I would also like NSC to consider whether amendments should be made to a suspect's right to remain silent to allow a court to draw adverse inferences in a terrorism trial where an accused relies on evidence which he or she failed to mention when questioned by police," Mr Ruddock wrote in his NSC submission.

The proposal was supported by the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, but rejected by the majority of the senior ministers in the NSC.

Liberal MP Kevin Andrews is the only current politician who was a member of the NSC at that time.
Current ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis was then an adviser in the prime minister's National Security Division and along with a colleague, he argued strongly against Mr Ruddock's proposal.

"Implementing a new provision to allow adverse inferences to be drawn from a failure to mention something when questioned is likely to involve more risks than benefits and will engage lawyers much earlier on in any investigation," Mr Lewis wrote.

He also warned the raft of proposed changes would be controversial.

"Any strengthening of the counter-terrorism powers will attract significant media and public debate," Mr Lewis said.

A spokeswoman for Mr Howard told the ABC he did not comment on discussions in the NSC, but pointed out that no such change to the law was made.

The ABC has also contacted Mr Ruddock and Mr Andrews for comment.