{"id":"F2017L00406","name":"Social Security (Declared Overseas Terrorist Act) Declaration 2017— Past Overseas Incidents","slug":"social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":96133,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2017L00406-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Social Security (Declared Overseas Terrorist Act) Declaration 2017— Past Overseas Incidents","content":"![Commonwealth Coat of Arms](image.001.png)\n\nSocial Security (Declared Overseas Terrorist Act) Declaration 2017— Past Overseas Incidents\n\nSocial Security Act 1991\n\nI, MALCOLM BLIGH TURNBULL, Prime Minister, make this declaration under subsection 35B(1) of the Social Security Act 1991.\n\nDated 6 April 2017\n\n  \nMALCOLM BLIGH TURNBULL\n\nPrime Minister\n\n1 Name of declaration\n\nThis declaration is the Social Security (Declared Overseas Terrorist Act) Declaration 2017— Past Overseas Incidents.\n\n2 Commencement\n\nThis declaration commences on the day after this instrument is registered.\n\n3 Definitions\n\nIn this declaration:\n\nAct means the Social Security Act 1991.\n\nterrorist act has the same meaning as in subsection 100.1(1) of the Criminal Code.\n\n4 Declared overseas terrorist act\n\nFor the purposes of subsection 35B(1) of the Act, the following terrorist acts are declared overseas terrorist acts:\n\n1) the suicide bombing of a police station at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, on 10 September 2001\n\n2) the grenade attack at the Protestant International Church located in the Diplomatic Enclave in Islamabad, Pakistan, at approximately 10.50am (local time) on 17 March 2002\n\n3) the car bombing at a checkpoint leading into the village of Khormal near the town of Halabja, Iraq, on 22 March 2003\n\n4) the bombings at the Al-Jedawal compound, the Al-Hamra compound, and a complex housing staff working for US Defence firm Vinnell Corporation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 12 May 2003\n\n5) the small arms assault on IOM\\- and UN\\-marked vehicles travelling on highway 8 from Baghdad toward Hilla, about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq, at approximately 11.00am (local time) on 20 July 2003\n\n6) the suicide bombing outside the JW Marriot Hotel, located at Jalan DR Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung Kav E.1.2 No 1&2, Kawasan Mega Kuningan, in Jakarta, Indonesia, at approximately 12.30pm (local time) on 5 August 2003\n\n7) the bombing at the service road to the catering college adjacent to the south-west corner of the United Nations Headquarters at the Canal Hotel, in Baghdad, Iraq, at approximately 4.30pm (local time) on 19 August 2003\n\n8) the bombing at the British Consulate, located in the Beyoglu district in Istanbul, Turkey, at approximately 11.10am (local time) on 20 November 2003\n\n9) the small arms assault on the Louis Berger Group Inc. helicopter at Thaloqan, approximately 64km south-west of the city of Kandahar, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on 22 February 2004\n\n10) the small arms assault on the ABB Lummus Yanbu Oil Refinery in Yanbu’ al Bahr, Saudi Arabia, at approximately 7.00am (local time) on 1 May 2004\n\n11) the armed assault and hostage taking at the APICORP oil company compounds and Oasis residential complex in Al-Khubar, Saudi Arabia, from 29 to 30 May 2004\n\n12) the three bombings in Dehli, India, on 29 October 2005, in the following locations:\n\n1.  the attack at the Paharganj market in central Delhi, near Delhi’s main train station, at approximately 5.45pm (local time)\n2.  the attack at the Sarojini Nagar market at approximately 6.00pm (local time), and\n3.  the attack on a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) Outer Mudrika bus in the Govindpuri area in the south of Delhi at approximately 6.05pm (local time)\n\n13) the suicide bombing outside the offices of the Governor of Paktia Province, at Gardez, Paktia Province, Afghanistan, on 10 September 2006\n\n14) the small arms assault and suicide bombing in Khogyani village, in Khogyani District of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, on 29 April 2008\n\n15) the bombing at the Shitla ghat public bathing spot on the Ganges River near the Vishwanath temple, in Varanasi, India, at approximately 6.30pm (local time) on 7 December 2010\n\n16) the suicide bombing outside a Shia mosque on Gulistan Road in the Murriabad area of Quetta, Pakistan, on 31 August 2011\n\n17) the kidnapping of an individual for ransom committed by the Abu Sayyaf Group in Mindanao, Philippines from 5 December 2011 to 22 March 2013\n\n18) the bombings outside the Taqwa mosque and the al-Salam mosque in Tripoli, Lebanon, on 23 August 2013\n\n19) the kidnapping from a bus, and subsequent torture and murder of an individual travelling from Ghazni province to Kabul, Afghanistan, on 20 September 2014, and\n\n20) the small arms assault and hostage taking at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia, that commenced at approximately 12.00pm (local time) on 18 March 2015.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This declaration alters the set of acts treated as \"overseas terrorist acts\" for the purposes of subsection 35B(1) of the Social Security Act 1991 by adding the 20 specified past incidents to that statutory list; it therefore changes the scope of subsection 35B(1) insofar as it applies to claims linked to those incidents (see section 4)."},"complexity_factors":["Legal cross‑reference to the Social Security Act — the declaration operates solely to affect subsection 35B(1) rather than amending core Act text (see section 4).","Reliance on Criminal Code definition — the instrument adopts the term \"terrorist act\" by reference to subsection 100.1(1) of the Criminal Code (see section 3).","Retrospective designation — all listed incidents are historical, so administration must apply a present statutory label to past events (see section 4).","Granular factual specificity — each entry gives precise dates, times and locations, creating potential evidentiary or matching issues when applied to individual claims (see section 4).","No selection criteria or reasoning in the instrument — it lists incidents without setting out standards or tests for inclusion, leaving the legal effect to the cross‑referenced Act (see sections 3–4).","Limited operational guidance — the instrument does not describe procedures, burden of proof or appeal pathways, which may create administrative workload for decision makers implementing subsection 35B(1) (see section 4)."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument formally declares 20 named past violent incidents to be \"overseas terrorist acts\" for the purposes of subsection 35B(1) of the Social Security Act 1991 and commences the day after registration. It changes how that specific provision of the Social Security Act applies to people or claims linked to those incidents by putting those incidents on the statutory list of declared overseas terrorist acts."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This declaration performs exactly the function intended by section 35B of the Social Security Act 1991: listing specific overseas terrorist acts that trigger welfare payment restrictions. It has not expanded beyond this narrow administrative purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Very short document (only 4 substantive sections)","Minimal defined terms (only 2: 'Act' and 'terrorist act', with the latter simply referencing the Criminal Code)","No conditional logic or nested exceptions","No cross-references to other legislation beyond the single enabling provision (subsection 35B(1)) and the Criminal Code definition","Simple list structure (items 1-20) with straightforward factual descriptions of incidents","No operative provisions — the declaration merely declares facts (that these are terrorist acts) rather than creating complex legal mechanisms"],"plain_english_summary":"This Prime Ministerial declaration adds 20 specific overseas terrorist attacks (2001–2015) to Australia’s list of “declared overseas terrorist acts” under the Social Security Act. That means people charged with or convicted in relation to those incidents—along with potentially their families—can have Centrelink payments suspended or reduced.\n\nIt does not create new offences; it simply links those historical foreign attacks to Australia’s welfare-penalty regime, affecting recipients and agencies that administer benefits."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents","history":"/api/acts/social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents/history","analysis":"/api/acts/social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/social-security-declared-overseas-terrorist-act-declaration-2017-past-overseas-incidents/documents"}}