Anti-Terrorism Reform Project
Over the past decade, the Law Council of Australia has made well over 50 separate submissions on Australia's anti-terrorism laws, including submissions to Parliamentary Inquiries, the Australian Law Reform Commission and other national and international bodies.
Issues to which the Law Council has devoted particular attention include:
- the definition of ‘terrorist act' in section 100.1 of the Criminal Code;
- the terrorist offences in Part 5.3 of the Criminal Code;
- changes to the presumption in favour of bail in section 15AA of the Crimes Act;
- the sedition offences in Division 80 of the Criminal Code;
- the proscription of organisations as terrorist organisations and the related offences in Division 102 of the Criminal Code;
- the expansion of the investigative powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including:
- extended search and seizure powers in Part 1AA Division 3A of the Crimes Act;
- control orders and preventative detention orders in Divisions 104 and 105 of the Criminal Code;
- questioning and detention powers of ASIO in Division 3 of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act;
- laws restricting access to and disclosure of information that could prejudice national security in criminal and civil proceedings;
- changes to the classification regime to prohibit the distribution of terrorist related material; and
- changes to the laws regulating the use of foreign evidence in terrorist related criminal proceedings.
The Law Council has prepared a document which consolidates:
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Past Law Council advocacy on Australia's anti-terror laws;
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The findings of independent inquiries and reviews of Australia's anti-terror laws; and
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The relevant case law.
The document, entitled "Anti-terrorism Reform Project" is updated regularly and is available below.
Last Updated on 16/05/2017