Intelligence and Security Committee endorses criminal listing of eight terrorist organizations
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has supported the listing of Hamas and the National Socialist Order (NSO) and the re-listing 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 organizations under Australia’s Criminal Code.
The PJCIS today presented the report of its Review of the listing and re-listing of eight organisations as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.
The report examines the listing of Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code for the first time. In a review of previous regulations in October 2021 the committee supported the re-listing of Hamas’ paramilitary wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, but also recommended that the Government expand the listing to include the entirety of Hamas, on the basis that the Government assessed that the organization directly or indirectly engaged in terrorist acts and/or advocated the doing of terrorist acts.
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 also endorsed the listing of National Socialist Order (NSO), formerly known as Atomwaffen Division, for the first time. NSO is a racist and nationalist violent extremist group which encourages terror attacks and other acts of violence, and has significant global reach. NSO is the third white supremacist group to be listed as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code, following the listings of Sonnenkrieg Division and The Base in 2021.
Committee Chair Mr Peter Khalil MP said: ‘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 organizations under the Criminal Code’.
A terrorist organization is an organization that:
a court finds is directly or indirectly engaged in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act
or
the government has listed as a terrorist organization by regulations.
Also read: Bangladeshi international student’s terrorist links?
Listing of terrorist organizations
The government can list an organization as a terrorist organization if the Minister for Home Affairs is satisfied that it:
is engaged in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act
or
advocates the doing of a terrorist act.
An organization advocates the doing of a terrorist act if it directly or indirectly:
counsels, promotes, encourages or urges the doing of a terrorist act
gives instruction on the doing of a terrorist act
directly praises the doing of a terrorist act, where there is a substantial risk that this praise might lead someone to engage in a terrorist act.
The government can list an organization for three years. The Minister for Home Affairs may also add or remove the name of an alias to a listed terrorist organization.
The Minister for Home Affairs’ decision to list an organization as a terrorist organization or add or remove the name of an alias is publicly reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee currently chaired by Peter Khalil MP.
You can find listed terrorist organizations on the Australian National Security– external site website.
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