The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice today condemned the infiltration of activist groups by the Victorian Police saying that it will negatively impact the democratic process.

“Victoria Police’s actions are an abuse of civil liberties and negatively impact on our democracy,” ACDJ director Hammy Goonan today. “Healthy democracies have high levels of participation. When the Police start infiltrating the peaceful activist community people start to think twice about their participation – I don’t think anyone feels comfortable about the police collecting information on them.”

While the ACDJ was not one of the groups infiltrated, it had close ties with some of the groups that were, including the organising committee for the annual Palm Sunday rallies that the ACDJ endorsed every year.

“One can only assume that these actions are being carried out because there is some suspicion that the activists concerned are criminals or terrorists. Is that what the Victorian Police think of people that disagree with the government? It’s ridiculous that this can happen in present day Australia,” said Mr Goonan.

The ACDJ has also raised concerns about the 2006 amendment of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act which prevents those being monitored from getting access to the information gathered about them.

“Democracy has two key elements, participation and access. Police infiltration will mean that concerned citizens are more reluctant to participate. The amendment of the FoI Act means the Australian populous has less access to information that is vital to the decision making process.”

The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice calls for an immediate halt to this practice and for the information collected on these peaceful activists to be released.