Australia is to impose "draconian" counter-terrorism laws after state and territory leaders agreed on Tuesday to wide-ranging security proposals made by Prime Minister John Howard in the wake of the London bombings.
Under laws to be passed by all the states and territories, police will be able to detain terror suspects as young as 16 for up to 14 days without charge and control their movements through court orders, The Age newspaper said.
Police will also be given stronger powers to stop and search people in transport hubs and mass gatherings like sporting events and rallies and to use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on terror suspects.
Under the planned changes, existing sedition laws are to be replaced by a new law making it a crime to incite violence against the community or against Australian soldiers serving overseas or to support Australia's enemies, Reuters reported.
The laws had been condemned by civil rights activists when proposed. Law Council of Australia (LCA) said state and territory leaders had put self-interest ahead of the public interest in agreeing to the laws.
"In many sense the laws that we have agreed to today are draconian laws, but they are necessary laws to protect Australians," Queensland state premier Peter Beattie told a news conference.
Howard won backing for his raft of new anti-terrorism laws after agreeing to leaders' demands for a review after five years and a 10-year use-by-date.
Australia's six states and two territories are all governed by leaders from the center-left Labor party, which is in opposition to Howard's conservative Liberal/National coalition at a federal level.
The leaders agreed to strengthen citizenship laws to make immigrants to Australia wait three years instead of two before they would qualify to become Australian citizens.
Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, condemned the new laws, which came from a review of Australia's counter-terror legislation following the July 7 London bus and subway bombings.
"These laws will be unfair and could lead to the creation of a fascist state," he told Reuters.
LCA secretary-general Peter Webb said "These laws are likely to have a very significant effect on the Australian way of life over the next 10 years."
Australia, a staunch US ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has steadily beefed up security and anti-terrorism laws since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil, but 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in the 2002 Bali bombings and 10 Indonesians were killed when the Australian embassy in Jakarta was hit by a suicide bomb on September 9, 2004.
Under laws to be passed by all the states and territories, police will be able to detain terror suspects as young as 16 for up to 14 days without charge and control their movements through court orders, The Age newspaper said.
Police will also be given stronger powers to stop and search people in transport hubs and mass gatherings like sporting events and rallies and to use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on terror suspects.
Under the planned changes, existing sedition laws are to be replaced by a new law making it a crime to incite violence against the community or against Australian soldiers serving overseas or to support Australia's enemies, Reuters reported.
The laws had been condemned by civil rights activists when proposed. Law Council of Australia (LCA) said state and territory leaders had put self-interest ahead of the public interest in agreeing to the laws.
"In many sense the laws that we have agreed to today are draconian laws, but they are necessary laws to protect Australians," Queensland state premier Peter Beattie told a news conference.
Howard won backing for his raft of new anti-terrorism laws after agreeing to leaders' demands for a review after five years and a 10-year use-by-date.
Australia's six states and two territories are all governed by leaders from the center-left Labor party, which is in opposition to Howard's conservative Liberal/National coalition at a federal level.
The leaders agreed to strengthen citizenship laws to make immigrants to Australia wait three years instead of two before they would qualify to become Australian citizens.
Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, condemned the new laws, which came from a review of Australia's counter-terror legislation following the July 7 London bus and subway bombings.
"These laws will be unfair and could lead to the creation of a fascist state," he told Reuters.
LCA secretary-general Peter Webb said "These laws are likely to have a very significant effect on the Australian way of life over the next 10 years."
Australia, a staunch US ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has steadily beefed up security and anti-terrorism laws since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil, but 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in the 2002 Bali bombings and 10 Indonesians were killed when the Australian embassy in Jakarta was hit by a suicide bomb on September 9, 2004.
