Schedule 1—Amendment of the Criminal Code Act 1995
Chapter 8—Offences against humanity and related offences
Division 268—Genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the administration of the justice of the International Criminal Court
Subdivision F—War crimes that are serious violations of article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and are committed in the course of an armed conflict that is not an international armed conflict
268.75 War crime—taking hostages
(1) A person (the perpetrator) commits an offence if:
(a) the perpetrator seizes, detains or otherwise holds hostage one or more persons; and
(b) the perpetrator threatens to kill, injure or continue to detain the person or persons; and
(c) the perpetrator intends to compel the government of a country, an international organisation or a person or group of persons to act or refrain from acting as an explicit or implicit condition for either the safety or the release of the person or persons; and
(d) the person or persons are not taking an active part in the hostilities; and
(e) the perpetrator knows of, or is reckless as to, the factual circumstances establishing that the person or persons are not taking an active part in the hostilities; and
(f) the perpetrator’s conduct takes place in the context of, and is associated with, an armed conflict that is not an international armed conflict.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 17 years.
National penalties - war crimes
National penalties - maximum penalty
EDIT.