Senate

Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, the Honourable Christian Porter MP)

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultural Protection) Bill 2019

1. The amendments to the Bill are compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the Bill

2. The amendments to item 2 of the Bill would displace the evidential burden that applies to the journalism exemptions found in proposed sections 474.46(2) and 474.47(2) of the Bill, effectively transforming those exemptions into elements of their respective offences.

Human rights implications

3. The amendments would strengthen the protections that would be available to journalists under the Bill, by removing the requirement that the defendant meet the evidential burden in relation to certain matters related to journalism.

4. As such these amendments engage the right to free expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As these amendments would strengthen protections available to journalists (as compared to the protections provided in the Bill), to the extent that this right is engaged by the amendment it supports and bolsters this right.