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2004-2005
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ANTI-TERRORISM BILL 2005
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General,
the Honourable Philip Ruddock MP)
ANTI-TERRORISM BILL 2005
GENERAL OUTLINE
This Bill amends the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).
The Bill improves the existing strong federal regime of offences and powers
targeting terrorist acts. The amendments in the Bill are the result of a
review of existing federal legislation that criminalises terrorist
activity.
The principal features of the Bill are:
. amendments to the existing offences in the Criminal Code to clarify
that it is not necessary to identify a particular terrorist act upon
proving the offence.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
There is no financial impact flowing directly from the offence provisions
in this Bill.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
General
Unless otherwise indicated, any reference to a 'section', 'subsection' or
'paragraph' in these notes is a reference to a section, subsection or
paragraph in the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).
Clause 1: Short title
This is a formal clause which provides for the citation of the Bill. This
clause provides that the Bill when passed, may be cited as the Anti-
Terrorism Act 2005.
Clause 2: Commencement
This clause set out when the various parts of the Bill commence.
Sections 1 to 4 of the Bill (the short title, the commencement, the
schedules provision and the review of anti-terrorism laws provision) and
anything in the Bill not covered elsewhere in the table in clause 2 will
commence on the day the Act receives Royal Assent.
Schedule 1 to the Bill amends offences and definitions in the Criminal
Code. It is important that these amended offences commence as soon as
possible to ensure the offences are interpreted in the way in which they
were originally intended.
Clause 3: Schedules
This clause makes it clear that the Schedules to the Bill will amend the
Acts set out in those Schedules in accordance with the provisions set out
in each Schedule.
Clause 4: Review of anti-terrorism laws
This clause provides for a review of the amendments made by Schedule 1
after five years.
Subclause 4(1) provides that the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
agreed on 27 September 2005 to undertake this review.
Subclause 4(2) provides that if a copy of a report of this review is made
available to the Attorney-General, he or she must cause a copy of the
report to be laid before each House of Parliament within 15 sitting days
after the report is received.
This clause ensures that the COAG agreement to a five-year review of these
new laws is enshrined in the legislation. It also ensures that any report
on the review of these new laws will be made public.
Schedule 1 - Amendments to terrorism offences
This Schedule amends the terrorism offences in Divisions 101 and 103 of the
Criminal Code.
Criminal Code Act 1995
Items 1 to 4
These items are interpretative amendments to the existing terrorism
offences in Division 101 of Part 5.3 of the Criminal Code that clarify
that, in a prosecution for a terrorism offence, it is not necessary to
identify a particular terrorist act. The amendments will ensure that the
policy of the existing offences is implemented in the way originally
intended.
The existing offences contain a subsection that provides that a person
commits the offence even if 'the' terrorist act does not occur. When the
offences were originally drafted, it was not the intention that the
prosecution would be required to identify a 'particular' terrorist act.
The amendments will simply clarify that it is not necessary for the
prosecution to identify a specific terrorist act. It will be sufficient
for the prosecution to prove that the particular conduct was related to 'a'
terrorist act.
The amendments will ensure the relevant offences will be available where a
person is considering a range of activities that are still in formative
stages and not advanced to the point of the details being decided upon.
For example, a person or group of persons may be considering a range of
activities such as killing persons or detonating a bomb. However, that
person or group may not have decided which of the activities will be
carried out, nor the time, date or method of such activities. In other
words, in proving one of the amended offences it will not be necessary to
establish that the person has settled on a particular target, time or date
or other specific particulars of the action or threat of action said to
constitute the terrorist act. For example, where the person has settled on
an action such as destroying a Government building but has not decided on a
particular building, time or date this would fall within the concept of a
terrorist act.
Item 5
This item is an interpretative amendment to the offence of financing
terrorism in subsection 103.1(1) of the Criminal Code to clarify that, in a
prosecution for this offence, it is not necessary to identify a particular
terrorist act.
The amendment will simply clarify that it is not necessary for the
prosecution to identify a specific terrorist act. It will be sufficient
for the prosecution to prove that the particular conduct was related to 'a'
terrorist act.