Fed: DNA debate an election ploy

AAP General News (Australia)
04-26-2001
Fed: DNA debate an election ploy

A leading civil libertarian says federal Liberal MP PETER LINDSAY'S proposal for compulsory
DNA testing of new-born babies is nothing more than an election stunt.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president TERRY O'GORMAN says the proposal is
an unacceptable invasion of privacy.

Mr O'GORMAN says Mr LINDSAY, who holds the marginal north Queensland seat of Herbert,
is simply banging the law and order drum in the wake of an election.

He says no other country in the world takes DNA samples from newborn babies and the
proposal shouldn't be taken seriously.

Opposition Queensland police spokesman JEFF SEENEY says the proposal raises the spectre
of GEORGE ORWELL'S novel, 1984, that paints a frightening future of a bureaucracy gone
mad.

AAP RTV bja/jhm/klw/hn

KEYWORD: DNA CIVIL (BRISBANE)

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