Inquiry into Financing Terrorism Offenses
The Law Council has a number of concerns with the financing terrorism offences under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (Criminal Code) and the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 (Cth) (UN Charter Act).
As well as particular concerns with the offence provisions, the Law Council’s concerns relate to definitions which are used in the Criminal Code such as those relating to terrorist acts and terrorist organisations. The Law Council also has concerns about the process for proscription of terrorist organisations; the grounds for proscription and the processes for review of proscription. The Law Council makes a number of recommendations in relation to narrowing the scope of the definition of a terrorist act and for improving accountability, fairness and transparency in relation to the proscription of terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code.
The Law Council is concerned about the broad scope of the offences relating to receiving funds from, making funds available to or collecting funds on behalf of terrorist organisations. The Law Council makes recommendations for narrowing the scope of these offences and for facilitating the ability of legal practitioners to rely on a relevant exemption from committing an offence if they provide legal assistance to people charged with terrorist organisation offences or seeking assistance to comply with relevant laws.
The Law Council is also concerned with the complexity and broad scope of the offences of providing support to a terrorist organisation and makes recommendations to clarify and narrow the scope of these offences.
In relation to the UN Charter Act, the Law Council is concerned with the lack of a definition of terrorism in the Act and regulations made pursuant to it. The Law Council is also concerned about the broad scope of executive discretion in relation to proscribing persons, entities and assets under that legislation and the limited scope of the discretion to revoke such proscriptions.
The Law Council is also concerned about inappropriate fault elements in offences under the UN Charter Act and the scope of these offences. It is also concerned about provisions applying to bodies corporate. It makes recommendations for reform of these provisions.
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Last Updated on 21/03/2025