The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the listing of Hizballah and The Base as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).
Hizballah is a Lebanese organisation with political, social and military components. The Australian Government had listed Hizballah’s External Security Organisation (ESO), an entity within Hizballah responsible for various terrorist activities, as a terrorist organisation since 2003 but has recently decided to list the whole organisation of Hizballah as a terrorist organisation, following a unanimous bipartisan recommendation of the PJCIS in June.
Founded in the United States, The Base is a nationalist and racist violent extremist movement founded in 2018. Its members believe in an accelerationist ideology of preparing for a ‘race war’ and inevitable social collapse which can be expedited through terrorist attacks. This group has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada.
Under section 102.1A of the Criminal Code, the Committee may review listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to each house of the Parliament within the 15 sitting day disallowance period.
Members of the public are welcome to make submissions to this review. Submissions should be provided no later than 5pm Tuesday, 1 February 2022.
Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.
Media inquiries:
Chair, Senator James Paterson via Deborah Seccombe on 0451 255 891 or deborah.seccombe@aph.gov.au
For background information:
Committee Secretariat, Parliamentary Joint Committee on intelligence and Security
(02) 6277 2360
pjcis@aph.gov.au
For more information about this Committee, you can visit its website. On the site, you can make a submission to an inquiry, read other submissions, and get details for upcoming public hearings. You can also track the Committee and receive email updates by clicking on the blue ‘Track Committee’ button in the bottom right hand corner of the page.
