Summary

Edit

The majority did not want to change the exceptions to the offence of entering and staying in a declared area. Labor Senator Penny Wong had proposed to delete the current exceptions and replace them with an exception of "entering or remaining for a legitimate purpose".

Enter or stay in declared area offence

The bill will make it an offence for someone to enter or stay in an area that the Minister for Foreign Affairs declares as a declared area. A whole country can be a declared area, which was criticised by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security.

The current exceptions to this offence (in proposed subsection 119.2(3)) include when a person is involved in:

  • humanitarian aid (but this has to be the sole act),
  • a court case,
  • work for an Australian government (state or federal),
  • work for a foreign government (so long as it's not violating Australian law),
  • work for the United Nations,
  • journalism, and
  • visiting a family member.

Read more about this new offence in the bills digest.

Background to the bill

A number of incidents happened before and after this bill's introduction. There was one of the biggest counter-terrorism operations in Australian history. The Prime Minister Tony Abbott also confirmed that Australia would be sending the military to Iraq to fight the Islamic State (IS) (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)).

Two particularly significant incidents were when:

Votes Not passed by a small majority

Nobody rebelled against their party.

Party Votes
Australian Greens (100% turnout) 10 Yes 0 No
Richard Di Natale Victoria Yes
Sarah Hanson-Young SA Yes
Scott Ludlam WA Yes
Christine Milne Tasmania Yes
Lee Rhiannon NSW Yes
Janet Rice Victoria Yes
Rachel Siewert WA Yes
Larissa Waters Queensland Yes
Peter Whish-Wilson Tasmania Yes
Penny Wright SA Yes
Australian Labor Party (71% turnout) 17 Yes 0 No
Catryna Bilyk Tasmania Yes
Carol Brown Tasmania Yes
Joe Bullock WA Yes
Doug Cameron NSW Yes
Kim Carr Victoria Yes
Stephen Conroy Victoria Yes
John Faulkner NSW Yes
Alex Gallacher SA Yes
Chris Ketter Queensland Yes
Sue Lines WA Yes
Kate Lundy ACT Yes
Deborah O'Neill NSW Yes
Helen Polley Tasmania Yes
Lisa Singh Tasmania Yes
Glenn Sterle WA Yes
Anne Urquhart Tasmania Yes
Penny Wong SA Yes
Jacinta Collins Victoria Absent
Sam Dastyari NSW Absent
Joe Ludwig Queensland Absent
Anne McEwen SA Absent
Jan McLucas Queensland Absent
Claire Moore Queensland Absent
Nova Peris NT Absent
Ricky Muir Victoria Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party No
Nigel Scullion NT Country Liberal Party No
John Madigan Victoria Democratic Labor Party No
Gavin Marshall Victoria Deputy President Yes
Bob Day SA Family First Party No
Nick Xenophon SA Independent No
John Madigan Victoria Independent Absent
David Leyonhjelm NSW Liberal Democratic Party Yes
Liberal National Party (100% turnout) 0 Yes 2 No
Matthew Canavan Queensland No
James McGrath Queensland No
Liberal Party (76% turnout) 0 Yes 19 No
Christopher Back WA No
Cory Bernardi SA No
Simon Birmingham SA No
George Brandis Queensland No
David Bushby Tasmania No
Richard Colbeck Tasmania No
Mathias Cormann WA No
Sean Edwards SA No
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells NSW No
Mitch Fifield Victoria No
Bill Heffernan NSW No
Ian Macdonald Queensland No
Brett Mason Queensland No
Marise Payne NSW No
Michael Ronaldson Victoria No
Anne Ruston SA No
Scott Ryan Victoria No
Arthur Sinodinos NSW No
Dean Smith WA No
Eric Abetz Tasmania Absent
Michaelia Cash WA Absent
David Fawcett SA Absent
David Johnston WA Absent
Linda Reynolds WA Absent
Zed Seselja ACT Absent
National Party (100% turnout) 0 Yes 4 No
Bridget McKenzie Victoria No
Fiona Nash NSW No
Barry O'Sullivan Queensland No
John Williams NSW No
Nick Xenophon SA Nick Xenophon Team Absent
Palmer United Party (100% turnout) 0 Yes 3 No
Jacqui Lambie Tasmania No
Glenn Lazarus Queensland No
Dio Wang WA No
Stephen Parry Tasmania President Absent
Totals (82% turnout) 29 Yes – 33 No