1. There is a conservative government in power, and the Murdoch press for the time being wants them to stay in power so they shape the message and direct attention elsewhere. A labor government would be less successful introducing similar laws

2. Australians overall are less frightened of their government. Any Indigenous Australians on hn can attest that does not mean everybody is safe from state violence. Police still kill people, power is still abused, but comparing my life in the US and in Australia, most people experience the government as being more benign, and helpful than people in general experience in the US. It's not black and white, its just a few nudges along on a spectrum of grey. So most people are viewing the these laws as clumsy collective effort that they do not imagine will be abused.

There are many things that can be said about the problems with this view, but the acceptance of these laws does come from a reactionary hard line position, but rather that people find it hard to imagine that they will be abused

Not any more right?

Oh you can find a long history of everything being abused. But by and large, the Australian born, non Indigenous population, only imagine it will ever be abused against other people