Australian defence law plan sparks warning of ‘disturbing’ overreach

The Australian government argues it needs to modernise the Defence Act to protect the country in situations ‘below the threshold of armed conflict, as well as during armed conflict’. Photograph: CPL Brodie Cross/AP

The Australian government has pointed to the rise of cyberwarfare and the increasingly blurred lines between war and peace to justify a potential major shake-up of defence laws.

But the Greens have warned against allowing Defence to become “a protected secret club operating above the law”, as the government considers overriding some state and territory legislation.