Here's Why

Did you get that thing I sent ya?

From the Australian Terror laws about "things":

101.4 Possessing things connected with terrorist acts
(3) A person commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2) even if:
(b) the thing is not connected with preparation for, the engagement of a person in, or
assistance in a specific terrorist act;

I had an argument with a friend who somehow missed all the "even if" clauses in the Terror Act.

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems clear that no connection to terrorism is needed, because thats what "not connected" means. It sounds like a license to arrest and charge anyone for possessing any thing.

About the author: Ian Woolf lives in Sydney, has a degree in Applied Science, worked as a solar astronomer, software engineer, systems programmer, webmaster, research assistant, Cisco CCNA tutor, Physics laboratory demonstrator, Computational Theory lecturer, and subject coordinator; while changing his career to freelance writing and broadcasting. Listen to Ian on the Diffusion radio science show on radio 2SER 107.3FM Monday at 6:30pm in Sydney or streaming audio on www.2ser.com, or listen to the Diffusion podcasts. You should follow me on twitter, here