Responding to the news that on the basis of counter-terrorism the Australian Government is seeking changes to the law to allow authorities to decrypt communications, Amnesty International Australia’s Campaigns Manager Michael Hayworth said,
“There are few more important rights to citizens than privacy and free speech. Any move by the Government to implement wide-net surveillance would erode our democracy and attack the rights of everyday Australians. Terrorism is fuelled by the politics of exclusion and Islamophobia. Both sides of politics must not fan the flames of terrorism by overreaching with wide-net surveillance on Australians.”
