Criminal Code Amendment (Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes) Bill 2024

The majority voted against a motion to agree with the main idea of the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a second time. This means the bill won't be considered any further.

What is the bill's main idea?

According to the bill homepage:

Amends the Criminal Code Act 1995 to: provide that the consent of the Attorney-General will not be required for proceedings relating to genocide and related atrocity crimes; and remove the restrictions on review of decisions of the Attorney-General to give or refuse consent to institute proceedings for such offences.

Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe (Independent) explained in her second reading speech:

This Bill is a simple change, and as laid out in the Explanatory Memorandum, makes only two substantive amendments to the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (Criminal Code) removing the following restrictions so-called Australia included in their domestic implementation of the Conventionon the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Convention):

1. the restrictions on commencement of proceedings under Division 268 of Chapter 8 of the Criminal Code, relating to genocide, offences relating to crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the administration of the justice of the International Criminal Court, to those which have gained the written consent of the Attorney-General, whom they will also be prosecuted in the name of; and

2. that a decision by the Attorney-General to give, or to refuse, a consent under section 268.121 is final and cannot be reviewed or appealed, except in the limited circumstance of judicial review by the High Court under section 75(v) of the Constitution.

These changes facilitate truth telling and accountability, without which, there will be no change. Unless governments commit and choose to be held, and hold others accountable, crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, suffering and mass death will happen again, over and over again. The lack of proper adherence to international human rights is not because the goals are unable to be reached or there has not been enough time, it is due to lack of prioritisation of our collective humanity and lack of accountability. This Bill importantly strengthens accountability for breaches of the Convention, upholds the original spirit and intention of the Convention which intended to ensure genocide would never happen again, and improves the proper domestic implementation of the Convention.