Australian counter-terrorism offences: Necessity and clarity in federal criminal law reforms

This article analyses the wide-ranging reform of Australian criminal law related to terrorism. It compares the definition of terrorism utilised in recent legislation to the emerging international standard and tests the new federal crimes against the criteria of legislative necessity and clarity. It concludes that the reforms were in fact necessary in the sense of filling prior gaps and inadequacies in the criminal law but that some of the new provisions lack clarity and will pose conundrums for law enforcement.