Australia testing the waters again….this time they are proposing changes to the laws that allow our data to be collected.

"The proposed Australian powers are broad and will be exercised in secret, so there can be no real oversight outside of the agencies deploying them and the Attorney General’s department. The penalty for citizens disclosing information about operations is five years’ imprisonment; for not complying with an assistance order, 5-10 years! This is an effective weapon against potential whistleblowers. We already have the example of “Witness K”—the former Australian Secret Intelligence Service officer facing two years in prison for rightly exposing how the Australian government spied on the East Timorese cabinet during negotiations over an oil and gas treaty in 2004."

"The UK law allows companies to violate existing laws in order to comply with the notices, and it has been suggested that agencies could compel not only internet service providers, email servers and telcos, but any organisation, from a business to a hospital or political party, to collect information on behalf of the government. The UK Parliament is currently debating another new law, the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill 2017-19, which former MI5 officer Annie Machon has described as a move towards a “techno-Stasi state”. Under the legislation, classified information would be shared with the private sector, councils, schools or social workers to enhance spying capabilities. Another provision would allow police to close the entire “Square Mile” City of London banking centre to foot and vehicular traffic in the event of an emergency, terrorist or economic.

Australia has been a leading nation in the Five Eyes’ push for a new standard of state-secrecy to prevent so-called foreign interference, with the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Act 2018 passed on 28 June. Upon its passage, independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie warned that Australia is a “pre-police state”; but the Five Eyes spying alliance, comprising the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, has even bigger plans. As Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo revealed prior to the Five Country Ministerial meeting held 28-29 August on the Gold Coast, the Five Eyes countries are pushing for a global police-state capability, with a “transnational model of security”.

http://cecaust.com.au/releases/2018_10_04_Five_Eyes.html

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australia-setting-itself-up-as-five-eyes-weakest-link-512984