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:

• Past Law Council advocacy on Australia's anti-terror laws,
• The findings of independent inquiries and reviews of Australia's anti-terror laws; and
• The relevant case law.

This document, entitled "Anti-terrorism Reform Project" was last updated in August 2009 and is currently in the process of being updated again. The new version will be available shortly. In the meantime, a copy of the August 2009 version of this document is available below.

A full list of relevant Law Council submissions can be found at Attachment B to that document. All submissions are available on the Law Council website in the submissions library.

Some more recent submissions are available below.

Materials

Years: 2011 , 2010 , 2009 , 2008 , 2007

2011

•  Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill Supplementary Submission
  Submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
•  Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2011
  Submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

2010

•  Telecommunications Interception and Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2010
  Submission to the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
•  National Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 and Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Bill 2010
  Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee

2009

•  National Security Legislation Discussion Paper
  Submission to the Attorney-General’s Department
•  Anti-Terrorism Laws Reform Bill
  Submission to the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
•  Anti-Terrorism Reform Project
  A consolidation of the Law Council of Australia’s advocacy in relation to Australia’s anti-terrorism measures

2008

•  Shadow Report to Australia’s Common Core Document
  Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
•  Clarke Inquiry into the case of Dr Mohamed Haneef
  Submission to The Hon Mr Clarke QC

2007

•  Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Guidelines
  Letter to the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department
•  Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Terrorist Material) Bill 2007
  Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
•  Review of the Power to Proscribe Organisations as Terrorist Organisations
  Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security