Hezbollah listed in full as a terrorist organisation

On 24 November 2021 Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews announced that the Australian Government would list the entirety of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia political party and militant group, as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code. The ABC reported: "Until now Australia has only listed the group's External Security Organisation (ESO) on the terrorist list, exempting its military and political wings." The ESO had been listed since 2003. The new listing also covers Hezbollah's political wing, which holds seats in Lebanon's government.

Andrews said: "The Government has zero tolerance for violence, and there is no cause – religious or ideological – that can justify killing innocent people." The same announcement listed the neo-Nazi group The Base.

Under the Criminal Code, terrorist organisation offences, including membership, recruitment, training and funding, carry penalties of up to 25 years' imprisonment.

What Parliament heard

The listing followed a 2021 review by Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security of the re-listing of Hezbollah's External Security Organisation. The Committee's report records that "all non-government submitters to the review recommended that the re-listing of the ESO not be disallowed but also that the listing be expanded to the whole organisation of Hizballah". Those submitters were the Zionist Federation of Australia, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Dr Matthew Levitt and Emanuele Ottolenghi. No submission opposed it.

At the public hearing the Department of Home Affairs maintained that the ESO was "a separate and discrete organisation within Hizballah". ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said broadening the listing would have no impact on ASIO's operations. AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said the narrower listing "does make it more difficult" to prosecute, because prosecutors had to prove support for the ESO specifically.

The Committee was told of evidence of Hezbollah-linked activity involving Australia, including that in September 2020 a Bulgarian court sentenced Meliad Farah, a dual Australian-Lebanese citizen, in absentia to life in prison for his role in the 2012 bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. The Department of Home Affairs said its engagement with Australian-Lebanese communities had "not included a discussion of the implications" of the listing.

The Committee recommended the Government "give consideration to extending the listing of Hizballah's ESO as a terrorist organisation to the entirety of Hizballah", noting the positions of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United Arab Emirates. In November 2021 the Government replied: "The Government accepts this recommendation."

More sources:

• Minister for Home Affairs - Hizballah and The Base listed as terrorist organisations
• aljazeera.com - Australia designates Hezbollah a 'terrorist organisation' (24 Nov 2021)
• aph.gov.au - Committee report: Re-listing of Hizballah's External Security Organisation (2021)
• aph.gov.au - Submissions to the Hizballah review
• aph.gov.au - Australian Government response (November 2021)