The Wire

When the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 was passed last year, one of the most concerning aspects of the bill were components on sedition. That’s a term that has been associated in the past with groups seeking to be critical of authority such as monarchs rather than those thinking of committing terrorism. Opposition groups, political activists, journalists and even artists were also concerned that the laws could crack down unfairly on freedom of speech and see innocent bystanders face potentially lengthy jail terms for broadcasting so-called seditious material. Such was the concern that the Federal government decided to ask the Australian Law Reform Commission to investigate whether the sedition laws would actually address the problem of “intentionally urging others to use force or violence” and even asked whether the term sedition should be used at all. And today the law reform commission tabled its report in parliament – the report outlines a number of suggested changes to protect commentators, artists and activists. But most controversially it says the use of the word sedition should be scrapped.