Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Watt, I move the second reading amendment on sheet 1380:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes:

(i) in February 2021, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security tabled a report in the Senate following its review of the "declared areas" provisions in the Criminal Code Act 1995;

(ii) the Committee made four unanimous and bipartisan recommendations, including three recommendations to amend the Intelligence Services Act 2001 and the Criminal Code Act 1995; and

(iii) this bill would implement Recommendations 1 and 2 of the Committee's report, but the Government has refused to implement Recommendation 4, which is to amend the Criminal Code Act 1995 "to allow Australian citizens to request an exemption from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to travel to a declared area for reasons not listed in section 119.2, but which are not otherwise illegitimate under Australian Law"; and

(b) calls on the Government to implement Recommendation 4 of the Committee's unanimous and bipartisan report".