Australian Senator seeks proscription of LTTE

Senator Stephen Hutchins has called on the Australian Government to take steps to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation under the Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002, in the wake of the suicide bomb attack in Anuradhapura on October 6 in which Sri Lanka's former High Commissioner to Australia, retired Major General Janaka Perera and several others were killed.

In a letter dated October 8 addressed to the Attorney General of Australia, Robert McLelland, which has been copied to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, the Senator for New South Wales and Chairman of the Australia-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group, has stated that, "it has been common knowledge for years that Australian-based Tamil expatriates have used Australian organisations and businesses as fronts to funnel money back to the LTTE."

He further stated that high profile examples included collecting money out of a West Australian Hindu temple and defrauding Australians of millions of dollars in tsunami relief donations.

Hutchins pointed out that "by proscribing this organisation and holding local Tamils accountable, we would be sending a clear message that this country does not tolerate terrorism."

"Only through proscribing the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, will we able to empower the Australian Government to take appropriate action against individuals who insist on funnelling money to this organisation."