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Justice Minister rejects anti-terror raid ‘theatre’ claims

Justice Minister Michael Keenan has denied claims on the ABC’s Q&A program last night that last week’s anti-terror raids in Brisbane and Sydney were part of a political spectacle designed to win support for Australia’s actions in Iraq and the proposed national security laws.

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Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the fact the media were invited along to the raids and were provided footage “to me … feels like an element of theatre”.

It was a view echoed by lawyer and author Randa Abdel-Fattah, who said the spectacle of the raids “reinforced this wider narrative as Muslims as criminals, as Muslims as the antagonists of the Australian values”.

Mr Keenan rejected that premise.

“There were raids at over a dozen locations all around Sydney and there was some subsequent activity in Queensland,” he said.

“And of course if you are going to send armed police into such an enormous number of locations in a city, then of course people are going to notice, and it’s up to the police to inform people about what is going on.”

He also said it is nonsense to suggest the Government directed the timing of the raids.

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said neither terrorist acts nor the anti-terrorism raids could be described as theatre.

“Terrorism involves the commission of real crimes, real murders, real injuries to real people and counter-terrorism is the efforts of our agencies to deal with the threat of those crimes being committed,” he said.

It comes as laws to strengthen the powers of security agencies are slated to be debated by the Senate today.

A second round of counter-terrorism legislation, targeting foreign fighters, is due to be introduced to Parliament on Wednesday.

Addressing Parliament for the first time since last week’s major counter-terrorism raids, Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday warned Australians that the balance between freedom and security “may have to shift”, given the current “troubling” and “darkening” security situation.

 

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