Chapter 1 - Introduction
Background
99.1
On 23 June
2004, the Senate referred the provisions of the Anti-terrorism Bill
(No. 2) 2004 to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for
inquiry and report by 5 August 2004. On 5
August 2004 the Senate agreed to extend the reporting date to 6 August 2004.
99.2
Since the Senate referred the Anti-terrorism Bill (No.
2) 2004 to the Committee, significant amendments were introduced in the House
of Representatives which removed Schedules 1, 2 and 5. A new bill, the Anti-terrorism
Bill (No. 3) 2004, containing Schedules 1, 2 and 5, was also then introduced
into the House of Representatives. In the course of this inquiry, the Committee
considered the Anti-terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2004 (the Bill)
as it stood prior to amendment.
99.3
The Bill is a further piece of legislation aimed at
strengthening Australia's counter-terrorism laws. This Committee has examined
other recent anti-terrorism legislation, including the Security Legislation
Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2002,[1] the Australian Security Intelligence
Organisation Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2002,[2] and the Anti-terrorism Bill 2004.[3]
Conduct of the inquiry
99.4
The Committee
advertised the inquiry in The Australian newspaper on 30 June 2004, and invited
submissions by 8 July 2004. Details of the inquiry, the Bill
and associated documents were placed on the Committees
website. The Committee also wrote to over 60 organisations
and individuals.
99.5
The Committee received 95 submissions, including several
supplementary submissions, and these are listed at Appendix 1. Submissions were
placed on the Committees website for ease of access by the public.
99.6
The Committee held a public hearing in Sydney
on 26 July 2004. A list of
witnesses who appeared at the hearing is at Appendix 2 and copies of the
Hansard transcript are available through the Internet at http://aph.gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgement
99.7
The Committee thanks those organisations and
individuals who made submissions and gave evidence at the public hearing.
Note on references
99.8
References in this report are to individual submissions
as received by the Committee, not to a bound
volume. References to the Committee Hansard
are to the proof Hansard: page numbers may vary between the proof and the
official Hansard transcript.