A federal parliamentary committee has backed a decision by the government to continue to list the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been battling Islamic State, as a terrorist organisation.
While the Kurdistan Workers Party, otherwise known as the PKK, has been fighting to halt the advance of Islamic State in northern Iraq, it has also also waged a 30-year war of self-determination against Turkish authorities.
The left-wing nationalist organisation is also aligned with Syrian Kurds, including offshoot groups that have recruited Australians to fight against Islamic State.
But in a report tabled on Monday, the federal parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee said it was satisfied that the PKK continued to engage in terrorism as defined in Australian law.
The finding comes after the committee sought additional information from government agencies and conducted a public hearing with representative community groups.
The tabling of the report also comes in the wake of bombings in the Turkish capital Ankara at the weekend, which killed at least 97 people, and which some have blamed on the PKK.
Liberal MP Dan Tehan, who chairs the committee, said the listing of the PKK was not a result of the PKK's support for greater Kurdish autonomy.
The committee acknowledged the Kurdish people's desire for autonomy and the right to maintain a Kurdish ethnic identity in Turkey, and noted that expressing support for these goals was not a criminal offence as a result of the listing of the PKK.
"Rather, it is the organisation's activities, which are of a distinctly terrorist nature, that give rise to its listing under Australian law," Mr Tehan said in a statement.
The committee expressed support for peace talks, and encouraged the Australian government to work, in cooperation with international partners, to encourage all parties to engage with the peace processes in good faith.
The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish self-determination since 1984.
A ceasefire was signed in 2013, but collapsed earlier this year.
The report also supported the re-listing of four other organisations: Al-Shabaab, Hamas Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The listings make it a criminal offence to direct the activities of, become a member of, recruit for, train or receive training from, get funds to, from or for, provide support to or associate with members of the organisations.
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