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 organisations 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 organisation 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 organisation 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 organisation 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 organisations under the Criminal Code'.
