>The draft was open to public comment and 343 submissions were made.

>Of these, only one was in favor of the regulations. The rest either demanded revisions, or were completely against the bill. Despite the cascade of disapproval, the final draft of the law was barely subject to any scrutiny.

>On the last day of sitting before the Christmas period, a revised version of the bill was presented to the Parliament. It featured 173 amendments, but members were barely given any time to review them.

>The official reason was that the laws needed to be rushed through to prevent potential terrorist attacks from happening over the holidays. This was an especially dubious claim, since Australia already has a host of anti-terrorism laws.

>If the authorities required the new capabilities to force companies into building backdoors, then this also should be viewed with skepticism. Since the laws were passed on December 6, it is unlikely that any company would have been able to provide the necessary tools ahead of Christmas.

>On top of this, ASIO, the Australian spy agency, acknowledged there was no specific threat over the period, and it did not raise its warning level.

Absolute bullshit and our spineless "representatives" should be ashamed.

What kind of society are they supposedly defending?