Mark: Wire-tap bill is dangerous

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark on Wednesday stayed true to his vow to oppose the Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to let the police wire-tap prisoners and access data stored at a telecommunications provider, saying it was dangerous to democracy. Mark and his Opposition colleagues, as well as most Independents, voted against the bill when it came to a vote in the Senate Wednesday night. The bill, which required a simple majority, was passed by the Government, with one Independent Senator, Anthony Vieira, also voting in favour.

Despite the bill being watered down to be a simple majority bill rather than needing to be passed by a special majority of MPs, Mark still viewed it as a threat to personal rights under section four of the Constitution.

He alleged the Government had gutted, slaughtered and butchered the bill from its original form.

Claiming a bill cannot be passed by a simple majority whenthe original  act had been passed by a special majority, Mark complained the bill invades the privacy of citizens, in breach of the Constitution. Also at stake under the bill were freedom of expression and property rights, Mark said. He saw media houses as being in trouble under this legislation, which he viewed as setting up a "Gestapo court." Mark said British courts had struck down similar legislation in the UK, with mass surveillance deemed illegal and unconstitutional in the case of Big Brother Watch vs UK. Likewise, he said in the UK the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) Act was struck down by the courts for violating a citizen’s right to privacy.

Mark saw the bill as a threat to journalists, attorneys and MPs.

He called on Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to publish the legal opinions proffered to him on the bill by attorney Fyard Hosein, British QC Edward Jenkins, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Chief Parliamentary Counsel (CPC).