Main news organisations condemn sedition legislation (Australia)

[The Straight Story]

Main news organisations condemn sedition legislation

THE nation's biggest news organisations have slammed the new federal sedition laws as a danger to media freedom, and want them repealed or amended.

Fairfax (owner of The Age), News Ltd and Australian Associated Press have together condemned the laws' "excesses" as they relate to publishers, and called for a media exemption to guarantee a free press.

The controversial laws, intended to deal with incitement to carry out acts of terror, were pushed through Parliament late last year as part of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

In a joint submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission review of the sedition laws, the publishers acknowledge that the threat to Australia posed by terrorism is great. But they say there is no real reason for sedition laws that are a threat to journalists, cartoonists, commentators filmmakers and TV hosts alike.
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Under the sedition measures, anyone convicted of urging a group to use force or violence against another group could be jailed for up to seven years.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/main-news-organisations-condemn-sedition-legislation/2006/05/15/1147545263429.html


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