Earlier this year, the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM), Jake Blight, compared the sheer volume of Australia’s secrecy laws to works of literature.
“You’d be looking at about 3,000-plus pages. That’s about the same as the complete works of William Shakespeare, War and Peace, and the three volumes of the Lord of the Rings – added together,” he told the ABC.
Of course, secrecy laws are necessary in an increasingly dangerous world. And since the September 11 2001 attacks, Australia has passed more than any other country on Earth – more than 90 by a 2021 count (though the number is now closer to 100).
