Commonwealth of Australia Bills Commonwealth of Australia Bills[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]
This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
2002
The Parliament of
the
Commonwealth of
Australia
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Presented and read a first
time
Criminal
Code Amendment (Suppression of Terrorist Bombings) Bill
2002
No. ,
2002
(Attorney-General)
A
Bill for an Act to create offences relating to international terrorist
activities using explosive or lethal devices, and for related
purposes
Contents
Criminal Code Act
1995 3
Extradition Act
1988 7
A Bill for an Act to create offences relating to
international terrorist activities using explosive or lethal devices, and for
related purposes
The Parliament of Australia enacts:
This
Act may be cited as the Criminal Code Amendment (Suppression of Terrorist
Bombings) Act 2002.
(1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table
commences, or is taken to have commenced, on the day or at the time specified in
column 2 of the table.
|
Commencement information |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Column 3 |
|
Provision(s) |
Commencement |
Date/Details |
|
1. Sections 1 to 3 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by
this table |
The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent |
|
|
2. Schedule 1 |
A single day to be fixed by Proclamation, subject to subsections (3)
and (4) |
|
Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act
as originally passed by the Parliament and assented to. It will not be expanded
to deal with provisions inserted in this Act after assent.
(2) Column 3 of the table is for additional information that is not part
of this Act. This information may be included in any published version of this
Act.
(3) A Proclamation under item 2 of the table must not specify a day
that occurs before the day on which the International Convention for the
Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (the Convention) enters into
force for Australia.
Note: The Convention was done at New York on
15 December 1997.
(4) If a provision covered by item 2 of the table does not commence
within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which the Convention
enters into force for Australia, it commences on the first day after the end of
that period.
(5) If a provision commences as a result of subsection (4), the
Minister must announce by notice in the Gazette the day on which the
provision commenced.
Each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or
repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any
other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its
terms.
1 The Schedule (at the end of Chapter 4 of
the Criminal Code)
Add:
The purpose of this Division is to create offences relating to
international terrorist activities using explosive or lethal devices and
give effect to the International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombings, done at New York on 15 December 1997.
Note: The text of the Convention is available in the
Australian Treaties Library of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
accessible on the Internet through that Department’s world-wide web
site.
Nothing in this Division makes a member of the Australian Defence Force
acting in connection with the defence or security of Australia liable to be
prosecuted for an offence.
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person intentionally delivers, places, discharges or detonates a
device; and
(b) the device is an explosive or other lethal device and the person is
reckless as to that fact; and
(c) the device is delivered, placed, discharged, or detonated, to, in,
into or against:
(i) a place of public use; or
(ii) a government facility; or
(iii) a public transportation system; or
(iv) an infrastructure facility; and
(d) the person intends to cause death or serious harm.
Penalty: Imprisonment for life.
(2) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person intentionally delivers, places, discharges or detonates a
device; and
(b) the device is an explosive or other lethal device and the person is
reckless as to that fact; and
(c) the device is delivered, placed, discharged, or detonated, to, in,
into or against:
(i) a place of public use; or
(ii) a government facility; or
(iii) a public transportation system; or
(iv) an infrastructure facility; and
(d) the person intends to cause extensive destruction to the place,
facility or system; and
(e) the person is reckless as to whether that intended destruction results
or is likely to result in major economic loss.
Penalty: Imprisonment for life.
(3) Strict liability applies to paragraphs (1)(c) and
(2)(c).
(1) A person commits an offence under this Division only if one or more of
the following paragraphs applies and the circumstances relating to the alleged
offence are not exclusively internal (see subsection (2)):
(a) the conduct constituting the alleged offence occurs:
(i) wholly or partly in Australia; or
(ii) wholly or partly on board an Australian ship or an Australian
aircraft;
(b) at the time of the alleged offence, the person is an Australian
citizen;
(c) at the time of the alleged offence, the person is a stateless person
whose habitual residence is in Australia;
(d) the conduct is subject to the jurisdiction of another State Party to
the Convention established in accordance with paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 6 of
the Convention and the person is in Australia;
(e) the alleged offence is committed against a government facility of the
Commonwealth, or of a State or Territory, that is located outside
Australia;
(f) the alleged offence is committed against:
(i) an Australian citizen; or
(ii) a body corporate incorporated by or under a law of the Commonwealth
or of a State or Territory;
(g) by engaging in the conduct constituting the alleged offence, the
person intends to compel a legislative, executive or judicial institution of the
Commonwealth, a State or a Territory to do or omit to do an act.
(2) The circumstances relating to the alleged offence are exclusively
internal if:
(a) the conduct constituting the alleged offence occurs wholly within
Australia; and
(b) the alleged offender is an Australian citizen; and
(c) all of the persons against whom the offence is committed are
Australian citizens or bodies corporate incorporated by or under a law of the
Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; and
(d) the alleged offender is in Australia; and
(e) no other State Party to the Convention has a basis under paragraph 1
or 2 of Article 6 of the Convention for exercising jurisdiction in relation to
the conduct.
This Division is not intended to exclude or limit the operation of any
other law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory.
If a person has been convicted or acquitted of an offence in respect of
conduct under the law of a foreign country, the person cannot be convicted of an
offence under this Division in respect of that conduct.
(1) Proceedings for an offence under this Division must not be commenced
without the Attorney-General’s written consent.
(2) However, a person may be arrested, charged, remanded in custody, or
released on bail, in connection with an offence under this Division before the
necessary consent has been given.
(3) In determining whether to bring proceedings for an offence under this
Division, the Attorney-General must have regard to the terms of the Convention,
including paragraph 2 of Article 19.
(4) In determining whether to bring proceedings for an offence under this
Division, the Attorney-General must also have regard to:
(a) whether the conduct constituting the offence also gives rise to an
offence under a law of a State or Territory; and
(b) whether a prosecution relating to the conduct under the State or
Territory law has been or will be commenced.
(1) The Minister administering the Charter of the United Nations Act
1945 may issue a certificate stating any of the following
matters:
(a) that the Convention entered into force for Australia on a specified
day;
(b) that the Convention remains in force for Australia or any other State
Party on a specified day;
(c) a matter relevant to the establishment of jurisdiction by a State
Party under paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 6 of the Convention.
(2) The Minister administering the Australian Citizenship Act
1948 may issue a certificate stating that:
(a) a person is or was an Australian citizen at a particular time;
or
(b) a person is or was a stateless person whose habitual residence is or
was in Australia at a particular time.
(3) In any proceedings, a certificate under this section is prima facie
evidence of the matters in the certificate.
For the purposes of section 38 of the Judiciary Act 1903, a
matter arising under this Division, including a question of interpretation of
the Convention, is taken not to be a matter arising directly under a
treaty.
In this Division:
Convention means the Convention referred to in
section 72.1.
explosive or other lethal device has the same meaning as in
the Convention.
government facility has the same meaning as
State or government facility has in the Convention.
infrastructure facility has the same meaning as in the
Convention.
place of public use has the same meaning as in the
Convention.
public transportation system has the same meaning as in the
Convention.
2 Section 5 (at the end of
paragraph (a) of the definition of political
offence)
Add:
; or (ix) Article 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombings, done at New York on 15 December 1997;