The year from hell is nearly over. (Thank god) But the Coalition's Dutton led drive towards authoritarianism shows no signs of abating whatsoever; in fact things have deteriorated sharply as 2020 draws to a close. Let's examine what we know. First and most relevant for most regular Australians:

The Asio Ammendment Bill has been Passed in the Lower House

In a stunning development upon the focus point of my last update, Dutton's proposal to expand the powers of domestic intelligence agency ASIO has today gained majority support in the House of Representatives. In the same session, Greens Party leader Adam Bandt was slandered as an 'Enemy of the State' for criticizing the bill. 

It will soon be legal for agents to:

• Take 14 year olds into custody for an indefinite term and subject them to interrogation without guarantee of legal representation 
• Issue on the spot Questioning Warrants without the involvement of a Judge
• Issue such Warrants for issues other than suspected Terrorisim offences (Read: Outside ASIO's auspices of authority)
• Place magnetic tracking devices on vehicles without seeking a warrant, only internal authorisation would be required

And that's just for starters. Read a little further into it, and things become even more disturbing. A complaint cited by many opponents of the bill is that it is excessively vague; there is no clear indicator within the legislation as to exactly where these new powers stop.

It's entirely likely then, considering Dutton's previously articulated views that members of civil society organizations and Journalists among others, will be unfairly targeted for potentially unconstitutional and highly unethical treatment, with agents using these new powers to drag off anyone who dissents against their policy or ideals and threaten them into submission.

Dutton is using the chaos and confusion sowed by the events of this year to quickly push through a blatant power grab for himself and the Attorney General, and imperil the lives of everyone who doesn't think the Coalition are quite on the level. Y'know, over half the population of this country. It could be you, or me, or someone you care about in the back of a van because we stood up for Democracy.

Secondly, in a somewhat better tone:

The High Court has rejected Dutton's attempt to negate the inalienable Human Rights of Asylum Seekers

The case, leveled entirely for the purposes of escaping responsibility for more than 50 cases of severe neglect of the migrants under his care, including at least two children in need of urgent medical treatment, was thrown out after the High Court ruled that the Migration Act does not prevent Asylum Seekers from raising lawsuits at any level of court when in the country. 

In layman's terms, the Judges of the HC told Minister Dutton the whole premise of his argument was utter rubbish, and ordered him to do his job, for the second time this year after a seperate case involving an individual Migrant ended with Dutton being ordered to reach a decision as to the man's status within Australia. No doubt he'll ignore them again, just like last time, but it is still a solid victory for the rule of law that our Home Affairs minister seems determined to subvert.

We cannot afford to grow complacent however. The main reason why Dutton was able to push through his ASIO bill was because the majority of the populace were unaware of what was going on. Now, it's too late to stop this erosion of our rights and perversion of our justice system, but there will be a next time; Mr Potato Head wont be able to resist.

Share as widely as possible, spread the word about what happened here today and why it was wrong, so that when next fascism comes knocking, he won't be able to pull the wool over anyone's eyes.