Major Parties Vote to Expand the Surveillance State. Again

By John Ogilvie

August 21st, 2026

The "Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025" has just passed Parliament and is set to become law.

Unless you are a political buff (i.e. someone with too much time on their hands) you probably haven't heard of this law. But it has significant implications for freedom of speech, and represents a massive expansion of policing powers.

What's in It?

Here are just a few of the changes the new laws make:

Expansion of the grounds for adult questioning warrants. Now includes sabotage, attacks on Australia's defense infrastructure, threats to Australia's territorial and border integrity, and "promotion of communal violence." It's this last one that has caused many to do a double-take.

There is no full right to silence . Refusing to answer or giving false/misleading information is a criminal offence punishable by up to 5 years’ imprisonment.

The framework continues to allow questioning of people as young as 14 in certain circumstances.

Someone being questioned by ASIO can have their access to legal counsel restricted.

Controversy

As you might expect, this has attracted some criticism.

These measures were originally introduced as temporary extraordinary powers post-9/11. As with many "temporary" government initiatives, it seems that these measures are about to become a lot more permanent. There is a review clause in the bill, but who knows how effective that will be when it comes to actually curbing any abuse of these powers.

There is no requirement for you to be actually charged with a crime in order to fall afoul of these new rules. Anyone (yes, that means you ) could be brought in for questioning.

Some of the language is vague and open to interpretation. In matters of law enforcement, this should never be the case.

Allowing people as young as 14 to be questioned under these powers is broadly unpopular. Not even ASIO supports this.

Proving the Point

This all comes amidst the rise of One Nation as a major player in Australian politics. One of Hanson's selling points has been to argue that while the Labor and Liberal Parties may disagree in principle on a few things, when push comes to shove, they will often work together (the "Uniparty" idea).

The Bill passed both the House and Senate. The Coalition allowed the bill through with only a handful of MPs voting against the legislation.

Much of the criticism here (particularly directed at the Coalition) comes from the fact that they abstained. Rather than voting against the bill or voting in favor of it, the Party took what many people perceive as the cowardly way out by refusing to take a firm stance.

Even if you agree with the new measures, it's hard to deny that this move reinforces the idea that (at least when it comes to civil liberties) the two major parties are in lock-step.

At a time when trust in both major parties is at an all-time low, this doesn't to anything to stop the bleeding.