Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the committee's report entitled Report by statement: a review of regulations re-listing Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and the listing of Neo-Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995.

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

by leave—I present a statement to the House of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for the review of regulations relisting Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh, JMB, and the listing of Neo-Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh, Neo-JMB, as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995.

Regulations that specify an organisation as a terrorist organisation cease to have effect on the third anniversary on the day on which they take effect. Organisations can be relisted provided the minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the organisation continues to directly or indirectly engage in terrorism or advocate the doing of a terrorist act.

Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh, JMB, was last listed in 2018, and the regulations to relist them were tabled in parliament on 2 June 2021. Neo-Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh, Neo-JMB, was first listed as an alias of Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh in 2018 and following advice from Australian government agencies is now considered to be an organisation that operates independently of Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh. The regulations to relist them were tabled in parliament on 2 June 2021.

The committee's review examines the minister's decision to relist and list these organisations. Section 102.1A of the Criminal Code provides that the committee may review a regulation which relists or lists an organisation as a terrorist organisation and report its recommendations to each house of the parliament before the end of the applicable 15 sitting day disallowance period. This statement serves this purpose and has been presented within the required period.

In determining whether the regulations relisting and listing these organisations should be supported, the committee reviewed the merits in accordance with the Minister for Home Affairs' explanatory statement and statement of reasons for the organisations and other publicly available information. In its deliberations, the committee determined that Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh, JMB, is a Bangladeshi Sunni violent extremist group which aims to remove democracy, liberalism, socialism and secularism and institute an Islamic state in Bangladesh. The group's ideology broadly aligns with al-Qaeda's global jihadist ideals. Since first listed on 9 June 2018, JMB has continued to conduct terrorist attacks. There are no known direct links between JMB and Australia. While Australians are unlikely to be directly targeted, they may be incidentally harmed in attacks perpetrated at tourist sites in Bangladesh.

Neo-Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh, Neo-JMB, was first listed as an alias of JMB on 9 June 2018. However, the group is operating independently of JMB and has been listed separately as a terrorist organisation. The group is assessed to be an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and subscribes to Islamic State's anti-Western ideology, which would consider Australians to be legitimate targets of attack. Neo-JMB has been assessed to have been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks. In Australia, a Bangladeshi student who was reportedly a Neo-Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh member was responsible for a lone-actor stabbing attack in Melbourne on 9 February 2018. Neo-JMB favours lone-wolf or small-group attacks, in which Australians may also be incidentally targeted while overseas.

There is evidence that these groups continue to be engaging in preparing, assisting with or fostering terrorist activities that could potentially and profoundly impact the Australian people. In examining the evidence that has been provided, the committee is satisfied with the relisting processes and considers that they have been followed appropriately for these organisations. The committee therefore supports the relisting and listing of JMB and Neo-JMB under division 102 of the Criminal Code in order to protect Australians and Australia's interests and finds no reason to disallow the regulations.