George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Dealing with the four amendments on sheet 7988, the government does not accept the amendments. The amendments in these terms were considered and rejected by the PJCIS, which concluded that the approach taken in the bill and the explanatory memorandum, in which a practicable definition of membership is applied to a constrained definition of an organised armed group, provides appropriate protection for civilians whilst also maintaining the ADF's capacity to strike legitimate military targets.

As I said, Senator McKim, in winding up the second reading debate, the continuous combat function test, which is what was recommended by Professor Saul, produces an inequity in the law. An attack on a member of an organised armed group with no continuous combat function is prohibited, while a member of a state's armed forces who performs no combat-related duties can be attacked at any time. The bill aims to treat organised armed groups as analogous with state armed forces for the purposes of targeting. As the PJCIS has noted, this approach aligns with the interpretation of international humanitarian law also adopted by our key allies.