Australian Constitutional Law Interim Assignment

Assignment Task

Australia, along with the US, UK and Canada, has ratified the Terrorist Tracking Treaty. The treaty contains the following article:

1. The State Parties agree to take reasonable steps to ensure their governments are informed of the whereabouts and activities of suspected terrorists in their territories, without unduly trespassing on the liberty of people who have not been convicted of terrorist offenses.

The Terrorism Prevention Act 2024 (Cth) contains the following provisions:

1. Objects

The objects of this Act are (a) to protect Australians from the threat of terrorism; and (b) to comply with Australia’s obligations under the Terrorist Tracking Treaty.

2. Definitions

In this Act:

suspected terrorist means a person who the Minister for Defence suspects:

(a) has committed, or attempted to commit, a terrorist act in the past; or

(b) may commit a terrorist act in the future. 

Terrorist act

means an act causing death or physical harm to a person or serious damage to property, undertaken with the intention of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause and with the intention of coercing, or influencing by intimidation, an Australian government, or of intimidating the public or a section thereof.

Monitoring suspected terrorists

A suspected terrorist must

(a) notify the Minister for Defence of their residence and whereabouts each Monday;

(b) not travel more than 50km from their place of residence without permission from the Minister for Defence.

Penalty: 5 years imprisonment

Suspected terrorists working for corporations

(1) A suspected terrorist who is employed by a constitutional corporation must notify the corporation of their status as a suspected terrorist and their obligations under s 17 of this Act.

(2) In this section, constitutional corporation means a foreign corporation, or a trading or financial corporation formed within the limits of the Commonwealth.

Zara has just been offered a job working for Food for Life Inc (FFL). FFL is a registered charity that delivers free groceries to low-income individuals and families in rural South Australia. FFL receives around $2 million per year from government grants and donations. FFL also runs an ‘executive education’ program in which senior professionals from various industries pay to accompany FFL staff on their deliveries in order to learn about socio-economic inequality in South Australia. The executive education program generates approximately $200,000 per year for FFL. Zara seeks your advice because the Minister for Defence has just informed her she is a suspected terrorist and will need to comply with the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2024 (Cth). Zara tells you she has never been involved in terrorist activities. On several occasions over the last decade she has visited Syria to provide humanitarian aid to civilians. She thinks the government suspects that these visits involved interaction with terrorist groups.

Zara explains that her work for FFL will regularly require her to travel more than 50km from her home in the Adelaide CBD. In addition, she does not want to tell her boss that she is a ‘suspected terrorist’.

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