Pirate Party Australia opposes the imminent abolition of the National Security Legislation Monitor (NSLM).

The NSLM conducts the crucial and ongoing task of reviewing “the operation, effectiveness and implications of Australia’s counter-terrorism and national security legislation”[1]. It provides independent recommendations on protecting individual rights and ensuring safeguards are effective.

The abolition of the NSLM is being conducted under the cover of the Coalition Government’s “Repeal Day,” which is purportedly intended to remove obsolete and unnecessary regulations[2]. The NSLM is targeted on the grounds that its mission is “complete,” despite its recommendations having so far been ignored.

“It typifies the bipartisan nature of the security state that one party would seek to abolish oversight on the grounds that another party ignored it,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for the Senate in WA. “The removal of external oversight further unbalances our overbearing security legislation and makes it even more urgent that political oversight exists to fill the void.

“Pirate Party Australia remains committed to the protection of fundamental rights and the restoration of balance in our perpetually expanding security laws. Pirate Party senators would exert strong pressure on the government to implement the recommendations of the NSLM in a meaningful way.”

“Oversight is not obsolete,” Mr Boyd concluded.

[1] http://www.dpmc.gov.au/INSLM/index.cfm
[2] http://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-03-19/ministerial-statement-deregulation