Australia has been expanding police state powers for 25 years

In the face of a divided opposition (‘it’s always been that way, hasn’t it?), the government yesterday passed new hate speech and gun laws as expected, and the Coalition made plenty of headlines in the process. This is the latest in a relatively short but very intense period of dismantling civil liberties and expanding the power of security institutions.

Until 11 September 2001, only one Australian jurisdiction (the Northern Territory) had a specific law that explicitly dealt with terrorism rather than addressing politically motivated violence through other legislation.