Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the committee's report entitled Review of the listing and re-listing of four terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code: Al-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent, Islamic State in Libya, Islamic State Sinai Province and al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I am pleased to present the committee's report on the listing and re-listing of four terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.

The Criminal Code enables the committee to review all listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to the parliament within the 15-day disallowance period.

It is an offence to direct the activities of, be a member of, associate with, or conduct a range of activities in support of a listed terrorist organisation.

Three of the four organisations reviewed by the committee were listed for the first time in November 2016:

The committee also examined the re-listing of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP, as it is known), which was initially listed as a terrorist organisation in 2010 and re-listed in 2013. AQAP is active in Yemen and is described as 'one of al-Qaeda's most capable and active franchises'.

The committee called for submissions as part of its review and held a private hearing with ASIO and the Attorney-General's Department.

In each case, the committee was satisfied that the organisation was engaged in terrorist acts or advocated terrorism. The committee has therefore supported the listing of each organisation under the Criminal Code.

The committee noted that the three new listings came into effect immediately following registration of their regulations. This was contrary to the agreed practice for first-time listings.

The committee has raised the issue of timing in previous reviews of Criminal Code listings.

In this instance, the Attorney-General's Department advised that, due to an omission, it did not consider delaying commencement of the listings. The department has since updated its processes to ensure active consideration is given to delaying the commencement of all future first-time listings until the end of the disallowance period.

The committee maintains the view that, when there is no pressing risk to Australia's national security, listings should not come into effect until the parliamentary disallowance period has expired and the committee has conducted its review.

While the committee accepts that in many cases there may be compelling reasons for the listing of a terrorist organisation not to be delayed, the committee expects these reasons to be provided.

I commend the report to the House.