http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/29/1099028208345.html?oneclick=true
Ian Munro
"Shoplifting could be considered organised crime under the state's sweeping major crime legislation, say lawyers, who have called for the bill to be stalled or reviewed.
No other state police force has the powers Victorian police are about to receive, they say, questioning why such powers should be granted when police corruption is a big concern.
In an unprecedented joint attack on the Government's major crime bills, the Law Institute of Victoria, the Bar Council, the Criminal Bar Association and Liberty Victoria said the changes had been rushed into Parliament without proper debate.
The bill allowing witnesses to be interrogated without the right to silence, without protection against self-incrimination, and accompanied by the threat of an unlimited prison sentence for failing to co-operate, was released in the last week of the federal election campaign and will be debated next week."
