Senator GREIG (7:48 PM) —I concur with what both Senator Brown and Senator Faulkner have said in relation to humanitarian aid, but the kind of assistance given to another country or another organisation may not necessarily be humanitarian. For example, there may be political support. I am thinking of fundraising events—of which I was aware in my former municipality, the Town of Vincent, when I was a councillor—for Sinn Fein and for the cause that it represented. I wonder whether, were this legislation in place then in its current form, those people who were actively and enthusiastically providing funds for Sinn Fein might have fallen foul of this legislation in terms of the financial and political support they were offering to an organisation which was unambiguously connected with the IRA. At 80.1(1)(f)—and Senator Brown's amendment proposes that this paragraph be deleted—the bill identifies anyone who:

The pivotal point for me is what `armed hostilities' might be interpreted to mean. Say, for example—and I am speaking hypothetically—some Australian troops were on some sort of exchange program with British forces and were stationed in Northern Ireland. I do not know whether or not that has been the case; I accept it could have been a possibility. I do not know whether in those two scenarios—Australian defence forces working with British forces in the trouble spot of Northern Ireland, and Australian citizens raising funds for Sinn Fein—given that some years ago the IRA was a criminal organisation deemed to be a terrorist organisation, Australian citizens would have fallen foul of this legislation.

That is the kind of grey area which has caused considerable community concern, which we heard a lot about during the Senate inquiry. I am privileged to be a member of the committee that conducted that inquiry, and I also acknowledge the tremendous amount of public input we had. That is the grey area which I think Senator Brown is trying to remove because of the possibility of the danger in invoking—perhaps unwittingly—anti civil libertarian measures. For that reason in particular I have no difficulty in supporting these amendments. But, if they do not succeed, I concede that the next amendment in the running order might perhaps go some way to achieving what Senator Brown is trying to do, if not as comprehensively. Therefore, that too ought to be supported if these amendments fail.