Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill 2026

Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of One Nation) (15:47): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. Leave granted.

Senator HANSON: I table an explanatory memorandum and I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows— I am pleased to introduce the Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill 2026.

The first responsibility of any government is to keep Australians safe. Australians rightfully expect this Parliament to put their safety and our national security above all else. The Albanese Labor government has failed to meet this expectation.

Since this Government took office, 15 women linked to the listed terrorist organisation Islamic State, or ISIS, have returned to Australia. Two face terrorism and slavery charges and have been released into the community on bail. The government says it offered no assistance to bring these people home.

But we know the government met with lobbyists campaigning for their return. Records and handwritten notes of that meeting indicate the Minister discussed how a return could be achieved without a "formal government undertaking". They indicate he thanked those lobbyists for "keeping the matter out of the media".

They indicate a departmental official was asked to leave the room so there could be a "frank discussion". We do not know what was said after that official walked out. We do not know what was promised.

We do not know whether a pathway was agreed for the return of others. What we do know is this: the Minister blocked the last of these women on national security grounds. A short time later, he issued her a permit to return.

His explanation was that the law gave him no choice. That is not good enough. Australians know that isn't good enough.

If the Minister genuinely believes the law stops him from keeping Australians safe, his job is not to shrug and accept it. His job, and the Parliament's job, is to come into this place and change it. Labor has not acted to keep Australians safe, so it has fallen on One Nation to change the law.

This Bill does exactly that. One Nation is acting where Labor has failed to act. Let us not lose sight of what we are dealing with here.

Islamic State horrified the world. It enslaved thousands of people. It burned captives alive and filmed it.

Individuals who left Australia to join this organisation celebrated these acts and actively took part in them. Thirteen of them are reported to be held in prison in Baghdad. They include Tareq Kamleh—otherwise known as "Dr Jihad"—who appeared in ISIS propaganda videos urging others to travel to ISIS-held territory or to wage jihad elsewhere.

It is reported that Dr Jihad and others who served ISIS may soon be released from custody and may seek to return to Australia. This Bill gives Australia stronger, lawful tools to protect the community. Schedule 1 creates a foreign terrorist fighter exclusion order.

The Minister for Home Affairs may apply to the Federal Court for one. The Court may make the order only if it is satisfied of three things: that the person, while outside Australia, voluntarily served with, participated in the activities of, or materially supported a listed terrorist organisation; that the person would pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the Australian community if allowed to enter; and that no less restrictive measure would be effective to protect the community from that risk.

The protection of the Australian community is the paramount consideration. Entering Australia in breach of one of these orders carries 10 years imprisonment. While that case is being prepared and run, the Minister's obligation to issue a return permit is suspended.

That suspension is capped at 90 days unless the application is actually filed with the Court, and it cannot be recycled on the same material. Schedule 2 deals with bail. Where a person is charged with or convicted of a terrorism offence, the protection of the community and national security become the paramount considerations.

A bail authority cannot find exceptional circumstances unless it is also satisfied that release would not pose an unacceptable risk of the person committing a terrorism offence. Childcare, family circumstances, the offer of somewhere to live, or an ankle bracelet will not, on their own, get an alleged terrorist out on bail. Schedule 3 deals with passports.

The Minister will be able to refuse, cancel or suspend an Australian travel document where an exclusion order is in force, where a determination to apply for one is in force, or where the person has been charged with or convicted of a terrorism offence. Those four grounds are written into the Act. They cannot be added to by regulation.

Schedule 4 makes it an offence to organise or facilitate bringing a foreign terrorist fighter into Australia without the prior written permission of the Foreign Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs. The penalty is imprisonment for 10 years. Schedule 4 also extends the declared areas offence, which is due to sunset in September next year, through to 2030.

Let me deal directly with the objection I expect to hear, which is that this hands too much power to a Minister. It does not. The Minister cannot make one of these orders.

Only the Federal Court can. The Minister must prove their case on evidence, before a judge, and the Court decides. An order runs for a maximum of two years.

There is no administrative renewal. If the Minister wants it longer, the Minister goes back to the Court and proves every element again on current evidence. The person can apply to the Court at any time to have the order varied or revoked.

If the Court finds that a controlled return under strict permit conditions would protect the community, that is the path that must be taken. Where a person is being deported, extradited or transferred home as a prisoner, the order gives way. The order only reaches people who acted voluntarily.

Someone who was coerced, held under duress, or trafficked is not caught by it. Where the person is under 18, the Court must treat their best interests as a primary consideration. Decisions are made on current advice from our national security agencies, sensitive material is handled under the established national security information framework, and the Minister must report the operation of the scheme to this Parliament every year.

This is a protective scheme. It is directed at the risk a person presents today, not at what they deserve. These are measures the Minister could have legislated himself while he was secretly meeting with lobbyists who wanted these terrorists back on Australian soil.

So I say this to the government. If the law truly tied your hands, here is the Bill that unties them. The Minister has said this Bill is unconstitutional.

This is just another excuse. The Minister had not seen the Bill when he made those comments. The Minister has refused to release his 'supposed' legal advice.

Commentary from prominent legal experts and others, including the former Secretary of the Department, indicate this Bill addresses prior constitutional concerns. At the end of the day, only the High Court, not the Minister or this Labor Government, can determine if laws are unconstitutional. Australians are sick of the excuses of this government.

They are sick of this government passing the buck on protecting the community from terrorism. I say this to every senator in this chamber. When a person leaves this country to serve an organisation that enslaved thousands and burned prisoners alive, and then decides they would like to come home, someone has to be put first.

Either it is them, or it is the Australians who never left. One Nation puts Australians first. I commend the Bill to the Senate.

Senator HANSON: I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.