The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. What does this mean?
- Written by Keiran Hardy, Associate Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University
In a joint press conference[1], ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Iran orchestrated two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil: the October 2024 attack on Sydney’s Lewis Continental Kitchen and the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024.
As part of its response, the Australian government will list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
The listing triggers various offences that people can be charged with, including being a member, supporting or meeting with members of the organisation.
It will place the IRGC alongside al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and neo-Nazi and other far-right groups as a recognised, criminal terrorist organisation under Australian law.
What is a proscribed terrorist organisation?
Under division 102 of the Criminal Code Act[2], the Australian government has the power to designate an organisation as a “terrorist organisation”.
The governor-general can make a regulation to this effect if the home affairs minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that an organisation is either:
directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act
advocates the doing of a terrorist act.
The IRGC listing has not happened yet, so the government’s full reasons are not available. Based on the recent announcement, it is likely the IRGC will be listed under the first of these grounds.
There are currently 31 terrorist organisations[3] on the government’s list. Most of these are Islamist fundamentalist organisations in the mould of al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
Hezbollah was listed in 2021 and Hamas in 2022, though their paramilitary wings had been listed and re-listed since 2003.
Four far-right groups were recently added: National Socialist Order, Sonnenkrieg Division, The Base, and Terrorgram.
Terrorgram[4] was listed in June 2025. It is more of an online network than a clearly defined organisation. The banning of an online group, and now the IRGC – a branch of another country’s armed forces – suggests that listings under division 102 will evolve in line with the changing nature of terrorism.
As Burgess has explained, threats to Australia’s national security are becoming more “dynamic, diverse and degraded[5]”.
In the past, threats of terrorism came from a smaller number of groups that were heavily influenced by al-Qaeda. Now, terrorist threats involve mixed and unclear ideologies, conspiracy thinking, anti-government beliefs, state-sponsored terrorism and foreign interference.
What offences does the listing trigger?
Once an organisation is proscribed under division 102, this triggers a series of criminal offences.
It is a crime, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, to direct the activities of a terrorist organisation – or to recruit for, train with, fund or support one. Being a member of a terrorist organisation is punishable by 10 years in prison.
It is even an offence, punishable by three years imprisonment, to “associate with” a member of a terrorist organisation. The association must take place on two or more occasions and provide support to the organisation. This offence could be used, for example, to charge proxy criminals[6] who meet with members of the IRGC or another terrorist group.
Strictly speaking, an official listing is not needed for these offences to be prosecuted. Prosecutors can also prove in court, as an element of the offence, that a group of people is a terrorist organisation. This happened in the Benbrika case[7], when a group of men in Melbourne were found by a jury to be members of a terrorist organisation.
Still, listing a group makes it easier to prosecute these offences, as the fact that the group is a terrorist organisation does not need to be separately proven in court.
In this case, it also sends a clear signal from the government and ASIO that foreign interference on Australian soil will not be tolerated.
References
- ^ joint press conference (www.abc.net.au)
- ^ Criminal Code Act (www.austlii.edu.au)
- ^ 31 terrorist organisations (www.nationalsecurity.gov.au)
- ^ Terrorgram (www.nationalsecurity.gov.au)
- ^ dynamic, diverse and degraded (www.oni.gov.au)
- ^ proxy criminals (www.abc.net.au)
- ^ Benbrika case (theconversation.com)
Authors: Keiran Hardy, Associate Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University
