1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Crimes (Hostages) Act 1989.
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This Act may be cited as the Crimes (Hostages) Act 1989.
This Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
Australia includes:
the external Territories; and
the Australian coastal sea.
Australian aircraft means:
an aircraft registered under regulations made under the Civil Aviation Act 1988;
an aircraft that is owned by, or is in the possession or control of, the Commonwealth or an authority of the Commonwealth; or
an aircraft of any part of the Defence Force (including an aircraft that is being commanded or piloted by a member of that Force in the course of the member’s duties as such a member).
Australian coastal sea means:
the territorial sea of Australia; and
the sea on the landward side of the territorial sea of Australia.
Australian ship means:
a ship registered in Australia;
an unregistered ship that has Australian nationality; or
a ship that belongs to an arm of the Defence Force.
Convention means the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages that was opened for signature at New York on 18 December 1979, a copy of the English text of which is set out in the Schedule.
Foreign Affairs Minister means the Minister administering the Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act 1967.
offence against this Act means:
an offence against subsection 8(1); or
an offence against section 11.1 or 11.5 of the Criminal Code, being an offence that relates to an offence referred to in paragraph (a).
part of Australia means a State or Territory.
Except so far as the contrary intention appears, an expression that is used both in this Act and in the Convention (whether or not a particular meaning is given to it by the Convention) has, in this Act, the same meaning as it has in the Convention.
For the purposes of section 6 of the Crimes Act 1914 and section 11.4 of the Criminal Code, an offence against subsection 8(1) of this Act shall be taken not to be an offence against a law of the Commonwealth.
This Act extends to all external Territories.
This Act extends, except so far as the contrary intention appears:
to acts, matters and things outside Australia, whether or not in or over a foreign country; and
to all persons, irrespective of their nationality or citizenship.
This Act is not intended to exclude or limit the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth or any law of a State or Territory.
Where a person has been convicted in a country outside Australia of an offence against the law of that country in respect of any conduct, that person is not liable to be convicted of an offence against this Act in respect of that conduct.
Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code applies to all offences against this Act.
Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility.
For the purposes of this Act, a person commits an act of hostage‑taking if the person:
seizes or detains another person (in this section called the hostage); and
threatens to kill, to injure, or to continue to detain, the hostage;
with the intention of compelling:
a legislative, executive or judicial institution in Australia or in a foreign country;
an international intergovernmental organisation; or
any other person (whether an individual or a body corporate) or group of persons;
to do, or abstain from doing, any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage.
A person who, at any time after the Convention enters into force for Australia, commits an act of hostage‑taking commits an offence against this subsection.
The punishment for an offence against subsection (1) is imprisonment for life or for any lesser term.
Subject to section 9, a person shall not be charged with an offence against this Act unless:
the act alleged to constitute the offence was committed:
in Australia; or
on an Australian ship or an Australian aircraft, whether in or outside Australia; or
where the act alleged to constitute the offence was committed outside Australia (otherwise than on an Australian ship or an Australian aircraft):
the person was, at the time the act was committed, an Australian citizen;
the person is present in Australia; or
the act was committed in order to compel a legislative, executive or judicial institution in Australia to do, or abstain from doing, any act.
A person shall not be charged in relation to an act alleged to constitute an offence against this Act if, under article 12 of the Convention, the Convention would not apply in relation to that act.
Subject to subsection (3), a person shall not be charged with an offence against this Act if:
the act alleged to constitute the offence was committed in a particular State;
the person was, at the time the act was committed, a citizen of that State;
the person is in that State; and
the person seized or detained as a hostage was, at the time of that seizure or detention, a citizen of that State.
Subsection (2) does not apply where the person referred to in paragraph (2)(c) is in the State where the act alleged to constitute the offence was committed by reason of being extradited to that State in relation to that act.
In this section, State means:
Australia; or
a foreign country.
Proceedings for the commitment of a person for trial on indictment for an offence against this Act shall not be instituted except with the consent in writing of the Attorney‑General.
Notwithstanding that a consent in accordance with subsection (1) has not been given in relation to an offence against this Act:
a person may be charged with an offence against this Act;
a person may be arrested for such an offence, and a warrant for such an arrest may be issued and executed; and
a person so charged may be remanded in custody or on bail;
but no further step in proceedings referred to in subsection (1) shall be taken until such a consent has been given.
Nothing in subsection (2) prevents the discharge of the accused if proceedings are not continued within a reasonable time.
Where, in the trial on indictment in a court of a State or Territory of an offence against this Act committed on an aircraft in flight, an act constituting in whole or in part the offence charged is proved, it shall be presumed, unless the evidence shows the contrary, that that act did not take place in another part of Australia, being a State.
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