You could be forgiven for not wincing, or even seeing as problematic, the Australian government’s ongoing attempt to classify Southern Lebanon as a “declared area” under the Criminal Code 1995.
After all, we have accepted previous “counter-terror” measures, so why would this be any different?
Except it is different.
Labor’s Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Declared Areas) Bill 2024 bill seeks to extend the foreign minister’s ability, from September 7 for another 3 years, to make it illegal for Australians to be in designated places if the minister believes a listed terrorist organisation is engaging in hostile activity in that area. Labor is also seeking to remove an oversight provision.
The arbitrary labelling of some global conflicts and not others as “terrorist-controlled zones” is more than an inconvenience to family holiday plans.
It means an individual’s freedom, civil liberties and assets can all be randomly frozen and put at risk over mere allegations.
Declaring southern Lebanon as a “conflict zone” is as inane as declaring the Lebanese identity itself as illegal.
In fact, the latter sounds more plausible given that anti-Arab rhetoric has been a key feature of Australian politics for decades.
No good policy ideas to solve Australia’s economic woes and social inequity? Just throw an Arab under a bus.
The dangerous precedent of arbitrarily declaring areas of Lebanon as terror zones shows how Australian laws can strip us of our human rights and civil liberties to serve foreign interests.
It is an affront to our democratic values.
Denying thousands of Christian and Muslim Lebanese Australians in the post COVID-19 era the right to finally visit and see their own families is a human rights violation — especially considering that most Lebanese in the South of the Litani River do not have the choice or financial means to travel to other parts of Lebanon for safety and shelter.
For a Lebanese Australian, travelling to Lebanon has always carried safety risks that need to be mitigated with compassionate grounds often being a key reason for travel.
Unless the Australian government plans on subsidising hotel stays in downtown Beirut, its arguments to attempt to restrict which areas of Lebanon are visited are an ill-thought-out concoction infused with delirium.
It is also clear that, with Israel’s recent bombings on Beirut, no place is genuinely safe in Lebanon.
Labor has used the excuse of Australians Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi, allegedly joining Hezbollah, as its reasoning for the decision.
It has said nothing about the thousands of Australians, in Israel, who may be committing war crimes by serving the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
The latter is a critical consideration, given the International Criminal Court has found substantial evidence to support its case with claims against the IDF in Palestine.
A witch hunt that targets minority groups, who themselves are targeted by ISIS, does little to develop community trust, cohesion and responsibility.
One can only hope this small but significant move towards becoming an authoritarian state are challenged by supporters of human rights.
[Dal Ouba has contributed to international think tanks, including the Centre for Citizenship, Enterprise and Governance journal, on the impact of government policies.]