Only hours after Labor conceded its limited powers over the Roj cohort, the Opposition released draft legislation that would create a new criminal offence: providing material help to any Australian who has travelled to or supported a listed terror organisation and is attempting to return without government facilitation. Shadow foreign-affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien said the measure closes a “loophole” that lets family members or third-party NGOs buy tickets, courier passports or pay smugglers. The offence would carry up to 15 years’ imprisonment and apply extraterritorially. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland warned the proposal may collide with existing constitutional limits on the external-affairs power and duplicate offences already in the Criminal Code. Industry lawyers note that airlines, travel agents and even HR departments arranging repatriation of employees from conflict zones could, in theory, be caught by a broad aiding-and-abetting clause if they fail to seek an explicit ministerial waiver. For businesses, the headline is simple: once the law passes, any contractual assistance that facilitates travel for a designated individual – from purchasing a ticket to arranging airport pickups – would need rigorous sanctions screening. Policies that already check against UN and U.S. terror lists will have to add an Australian domestic “return-assistance” list if the bill becomes law. Debate on the bill is slated for the next sittings, but with public pressure mounting over national-security optics, some form of extra-territorial assistance offence now looks inevitable.
Source: ABC News
