House debates

Monday, 26 September 2022

Committees

Intelligence and Security Joint Committee; Report

4:00 pm

Photo of Peter KhalilPeter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I'm pleased to rise today to present the first report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for the 47th Parliament on the committee's review of regulations listing and relisting eight organisations as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code 1995.

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

by leave—under the Criminal Code, regulations may be made specifying an organisation as a terrorist organisation for a three-year period. If the government assesses that the organisation directly or indirectly engages in terrorism, or advocates the doing of terrorist acts, listing an organisation gives rise to criminal offences for being a member of that organisation or supporting or associating with it in various ways.

The review examined eight such regulations made in February and March 2022. It was commenced by the previous Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in the 46th Parliament and completed this month by the new committee. The committee has supported the listing of Hamas and the National Socialist Order and the relisting of Abu Sayyaf Group, al-Qa'ida, al-Qa'ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, Hurras al-Din and Jemaah Islamiyah as terrorist organisations under Australia's Criminal Code.

In March 2022, the whole organisation of Hamas was listed as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code for the first time. Previously, this listing had been limited to Hamas's paramilitary wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The previous government made the decision to list the entirety of Hamas following a recommendation by the PJCIS in October 2021 and after its own consideration and analysis. In reviewing this listing, the committee concluded that the previous government was within its powers to make that assessment and followed the appropriate processes in doing so.

The committee has also endorsed, for the first time, the listing of the National Socialist Order, formerly known as Atomwaffen Division. NSO is a racist and nationalist violent extremist group which encourages terror attacks and other acts of violence and has significant global reach. The National Socialist Order is the third white supremacist group to be listed as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code, following the listings of Sonnenkrieg Division and the Base in 2021.

The committee agrees that, in the interest of protecting Australians and Australia's national security, it is appropriate to list all of these as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code. I commend the report to the House.