Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

CRIMES (AVIATION) ACT 1991 - SECT 26

             (1)  A person is guilty of an offence if:

                     (a)  the person uses a substance or thing to commit an act of violence against anyone at a prescribed airport; and

                     (b)  that act:

                              (i)  causes or is likely to cause serious injury or death; and

                             (ii)  endangers, or is likely to endanger, the safe operation of the airport or the safety of anyone at the airport; and

                     (c)  the Montreal Convention, when read together with the Protocol, requires Australia to make the act punishable; and

                     (d)  Article 5 of that Convention, when so read, requires Australia to establish its jurisdiction over the offence.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 15 years.

             (2)  A person is guilty of an offence if:

                     (a)  the person does any of the following things:

                              (i)  destroys or seriously damages the facilities of a prescribed airport;

                             (ii)  destroys or seriously damages any aircraft not in service that is at a prescribed airport;

                            (iii)  disrupts the services of a prescribed airport; and

                     (b)  doing so endangers, or is likely to endanger, the safe operation of the airport or the safety of anyone at the airport; and

                     (c)  either of the following applies:

                              (i)  the Montreal Convention, when read together with the Protocol, requires Australia to make the act concerned punishable;

                             (ii)  if the act concerned relates to an aircraft--the aircraft is in Australia, or is a Commonwealth aircraft or a defence aircraft, or the act is committed by an Australian citizen, whether in Australia or not.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 10 years.

          (2A)  For the purposes of an offence against subsection (1) or (2), absolute liability applies to the physical element of circumstance of the offence, that the airport is a prescribed airport.

Note:          For absolute liability , see section 6.2 of the Criminal Code .

          (2B)  Absolute liability applies to paragraphs (1)(c) and (d) and paragraph (2)(c).

Note:          For absolute liability , see section 6.2 of the Criminal Code .

             (3)  A person cannot be tried for an offence against subsection (2) merely because subparagraph (2)(c)(i) applies, unless Article 5 of the Montreal Convention, when read together with the Protocol, requires Australia to establish its jurisdiction over the offence.