Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to speak in this debate on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill, which deals with how we address the proceeds of crime. As the Bills Digest tells us, the bill amends the act to revise the procedures and requirements for making orders relating to unexplained wealth, and to allow information obtained using coercive powers under the act to be shared with state and foreign authorities for the purposes of proceeds of crime investigations and litigation. The digest tells us that unexplained wealth laws enable a court to issue an order unless the subject of proceedings can establish, on the balance of probabilities, that his or her wealth was lawfully acquired. An assessment is made of the quantum of unexplained wealth—the difference between the person’s total wealth and that shown to be derived lawfully—and the subject of the order must pay the amount to the relevant jurisdiction.

These laws are designed to target the wealth of senior organised crime figures who profit from crime while tending not to be directly linked to the commission of specific offences. That statement was made by Robert McClelland as the Attorney-General in 2009, and it shows how long this has been an issue on the agenda. It is beyond the time that we should have addressed this question. The legislation has been around for quite some time, and finally we are seeing it progress through the parliament.

Sadly, there are some issues with it, which, because of the attitude of state and territory governments, remain unresolved. We know that this bill was first introduced on 5 March 2014. It was referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on 6 March, with their report made due on 15 March. We know that the committee made a series of recommendations and that eight of those recommendations have been responded to in this legislation. Whilst eight of the recommendations in the report were accepted, there is one fundamental issue which is yet to be properly addressed, and that is the question of state and territory governments having a uniform approach to this particular regime.

While the bill will implement several of the committee report recommendations, it will not address, as the Bills Digest informs us, a more fundamental problem with the Commonwealth unexplained wealth laws on which the committee made recommendations for significant reform. Due to the need for a connection with a constitutional head of power, the application of the Commonwealth unexplained wealth regime is limited to instances where a court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the person has committed an offence against the law of the Commonwealth, a foreign indictable offence or a state offence that has a federal aspect; or part of the person's wealth was derived from an offence against the law of the Commonwealth, a foreign indictable offence or a state offence that has federal aspect. As the Bills Digest reminds us:

This undermines the key advantage of unexplained wealth laws over prosecution or traditional confiscation as, in practice, a connection must be made to a specific offence or fairly specific type of offence in order to satisfy the jurisdictional requirement.

To remedy this, the committee recommended that the Commonwealth lead development of a nationally consistent unexplained wealth regime. Sadly, though, despite the work that was initiated by Messrs Palmer and Moroney to investigate this option, the Minister for Justice stated on 5 March 2014 that the Commonwealth was ‘continuing to pursue a national scheme with our state and territory colleagues to crackdown on criminals flaunting illegitimate wealth’. This, I think, is a major issue and something that needs to be contemplated by the state and territory governments to ensure that we get a national regime—a national scheme that allows us to get the efficiencies and the required approaches that were identified by the committee.

It is worth pointing out, as my friend the member for Fowler did yesterday in his contribution to this debate, that it was the police themselves who raised this issue and put it on the national agenda back in 2007. The member rightly said in his contribution that, as a result of that, we owe them a great debt of gratitude. In doing so, he acknowledged the work of a very dear friend of mine Vince Kelly APM, who is the President of the Police Federation of Australia, the leaders of each state and territory police association and the Australian Federal Police Association for the work they did in raising this issue.

I want to for a moment concentrate on Vince Kelly. I have known Vince for many years—at least two decades. We now know that Vince has taken a decision to step down from the Northern Territory police service, ending 27 years as a police officer and for 14 of which he led the Northern Territory Police Association. He is stepping down at their AGM in November. For seven years he has been at the helm of the Police Federation of Australia as their president. Vince has made an unparalleled contribution to Northern Territory law enforcement and to national law enforcement. I want to acknowledge Vince for his contribution. I also want to acknowledge his wife, Andrea, for her contribution in supporting him in the work that he has undertaken, which has really been his life's work. He has had great support from his association and from police members right across this country. We have too few opportunities in this place to acknowledge the important work—the very dangerous work at times, as we have learnt, sadly, this week—of members of the police forces in the various jurisdictions and the Federal Police in this country. They provide exemplars to us of service, and Vince is one such fine exemplar. He is someone who I think we can all say has done a really good job in not only advocating for his members but ensuring that issues to do with crime and the law are properly at the front of the national agenda, such as this piece of legislation, which, as I say, came as a result of the work done largely by the Police Federation of Australia and the various state police associations.

So I say to you, Vince: I am not sure what you are intending to do when you step down from your position, but I know that you will retain a great deal of interest in the work of the Police Federation and the association and that you will want to continue looking after the interests of police force members right across the country. I know that you are held in extremely high regard across the Northern Territory. Anyone I know who has met you speaks very highly of you. Andrea, you have been a very solid support, even indulging in some of Vince's passions—at least sharing some of his passions—in the sense of his great commitment to Rugby Union. I first met Vince on a rugby field. He is a little younger than I, and he was a lot more dynamic than I was when I met him. But I say to Vince that you have made a tremendous contribution to the Northern Territory and the Australian community in your work in the police force and your work as a leader of police across this country. You deserve our tribute and I say to you, and I know the people in this chamber will share this view, that you and your police force members deserve our recognition for your courage, your commitment and your service.

Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to associate myself with the comments the member for Lingiari made about Vince Kelly. As the wife of a currently serving member of the police force I know first-hand what a great job Vince has done in representing the members of the Northern Territory police force—people like my husband.

Today I rise to speak on the importance of combatting serious and organised crime in our communities. I wholly support Minister Keenan in taking tough steps to strike at the centre of organised crime. The changes in this bill, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014, are aimed at taking the profit motive out of organised crime and at targeting criminal kingpins who remove themselves from the day-to-day operations of their criminal organisations but reap the profits their organisation brings in through illegal activity.

The bill seeks to ensure the most effective framework for law enforcement to investigate and take action to target unexplained wealth; to streamline the process for obtaining unexplained wealth orders, while ensuring appropriate safeguards for individuals; to close loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act that potentially make it easier to escape unexplained wealth actions and frustrate court processes.

The coalition is committed to tackling organised crime around Australia. In our policy to tackle crime we promised to strengthen unexplained wealth laws to ensure we have the toughest framework possible to target criminal proceeds. We want to remove any financial incentives for criminal bosses and heighten the risks for profiting from criminal activity.

Constituents in my electorate of Solomon have no tolerance for criminal gangs reaping wealth from illegal activity. Darwin and Palmerston residents want a strong government that will halt criminal kingpins in their tracks and make them think twice before they effectively steal money from our community. Our policy to tackle crime was framed around the recommendations of the 2011 inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement into the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws and arrangements. The inquiry found that the unexplained wealth provisions were not working as well as they could be. The committee made recommendations in order to make the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 more effective. While a number of the committee's recommendations were implemented, the previous Labor government chose to cherry-pick from the recommendations, and as a result a number of the recommendations were not carried out.

The coalition's policy to tackle crime seeks to address these omissions. Reforming unexplained wealth laws was a key plank in the law and order platform the coalition took to the last election. This bill gives effect to that commitment We are delivering on our election promises and we are doing what we said we would do. However, there is still quite a lot to do.

Locally, Minister Keenan is taking crime in Darwin and Palmerston seriously. He visited during the election campaign and I worked with him to secure $300,000 in funding for my electorate for new CCTV cameras. When Minister Keenan visited my electorate last year and I took him to visit a few crime hotspots, I identified the Palmerston CBD area, the Nightcliff shopping area and the Karama shopping centre as areas that need extra attention in terms of combatting crime.

I have delivered on my election commitment to tackle crime in Darwin and Palmerston. Recently, the Commonwealth government signed-off on funding for two mobile CCTV units for Northern Territory police. The funding was provided as part of the coalition's Safer Streets program, which assists local communities to implement strategies that address crime and anti-social behaviour.

In the coming months, Darwin and Palmerston Police will acquire two mobile CCTV units, the first of their kind in the Northern Territory. Mobile CCTV units will allow for flexibility in tackling crime around my electorate. Not only will they be available to combat crime in identified crime hot spots but the units will be able to be deployed to any area should an issue arise as the needs of our local community change. We know that hotspots do change, and these mobile units are going to provide extra support for the current arrangements. It was the police who decided what technology they thought was going to help them in combatting crime. This will be an additional extra tool. It can also be used at special events to ensure the safety and security of everyone there. Mobile CCTV units are a great investment for the Northern Territory, enabling police to deploy the units on an as-needs basis. I am absolutely delighted that the police were involved in the decision making for these CCTVs. This shows the coalition's commitment to working at the grassroots level to ensure that when we invest it is for proper infrastructure and for things that are actually going to make a big difference.

Combatting crime is not only about macroinitiatives such as our unexplained wealth amendments. It is also about microinitiatives such as funding for community crime prevention measures such as the CCTVs that I have mentioned. Only safe communities can be strong and prosperous, and the best way to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour is to prevent it happening from the get go.

Tough antibikie measures fall into the macrocrime category that I touched on a few moments ago. The activities of bikie gangs, particularly in western Sydney and Queensland and also in the Northern Territory, is an area where a broad based approach is required to get on top of what is essentially a national scourge. A police officer in the Northern Territory recently commented in a world-weary tone that the bikers build up a store of goodwill among some in the community when they conduct their annual pre-Christmas toy run, but for the remaining 364 days the police are left to clean up the aftermath of their activities.

The Northern Territory government recently threw its support behind Queensland's antibikie laws in the High Court challenge that began earlier this month. In doing so, it joined the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia in backing or supporting this legislation. The Northern Territory Attorney-General made a very good point in giving his support to Queensland's legislation when he said that the bikie laws:

… are an important crime-fighting tool to crackdown on the illegal activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs, and should be upheld.

He went on to say that organised criminal gangs are not only a Queensland issue. They also have the potential for their insidious tentacles to creep beyond state and territory borders. That is exactly what the coalition is doing through these crimes legislation amendments. We are taking a national approach to criminal activity by effectively removing the peculiarities and the quirks that exist between state and territory legislation. What is more, we are tackling crime by removing incentives and deterring would-be offenders through penalties and sentencing. As with any good legislation, there is an additional community benefit component. Funding for the mobile CCTV units I mentioned a few moments ago comes from the Confiscated Assets Account. This is money taken from criminals and reinvested into preventing them from committing more crimes. I think it makes good sense.

Often, through their illegal activities, these people are dealing in death through the sale and supply of drugs that can leave families devastated and can shatter whole communities. In the past week in the Northern Territory, two Top End youngsters are believed to have died as a result of taking drugs, the source being a new synthetic drug known as quacka that recently hit the streets in the territory. There is a chain that led to the deaths of these two young people that begins with the manufacture and ends with the sale. Every single person involved in that process should be held accountable, and it is only appropriate that any profits that are made throughout this process should be confiscated from them and that they serve any prison time. This bill strengthens the laws that turn the tables on bigwig criminals who live off the profits of illegal activities at the expense of hardworking, law-abiding Australians.

I turn now to the legislation in detail. To begin with, this bill amends existing search and seizure powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act to allow authorised officers to seize material they deem relevant to unexplained wealth. Currently, there is some uncertainty that exists under the provisions. This amendment will address the uncertainty by ensuring any material that is relevant to unexplained wealth investigations may be seized when an authorised officer searches a premises under a warrant.

Unexplained wealth can be a very tricky crime to prosecute, given Australia's numerous jurisdictions. It is important that we ensure that all agencies around Australia have the appropriate tools to communicate effectively so they are able to prosecute those who violate unexplained wealth legislation. The measures in this bill will allow for law enforcement agencies to share information between themselves and even with authorities overseas. This will aid not only in prosecuting unexplained wealth crimes but also in the recovery of the proceeds of crime. The coalition will not stand by while criminal kingpins shift their wealth interstate and overseas. No longer will organised crime participants be able to shift their wealth around the country in an attempt to evade law enforcement agencies.

We are making it harder for criminals to profit from crime by making it riskier to pocket large sums of money obtained illegally. Our law enforcement agencies will now be able to work more cooperatively than ever before. This is something that they have always wanted and always tried to do, but bureaucracy has often gotten in the way. The coalition is working hard to remove those obstacles and enable our agencies get on with their jobs.

What is also essential for a cooperative and coherent approach to prosecuting unexplained wealth crimes is to ensure there is a clear and straightforward process for obtaining court orders. To give both prosecuting and defending parties certainty and clarity throughout the court process, a court will no longer be able to refuse to make unexplained wealth orders for wealth of $100,000 or more. However, for sums under $100,000, the court can still refuse to make an order if it is satisfied that it would not be in the public's best interest. Removing discretion for amounts of wealth over $100,000 still allows for appropriate protections, as the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement considered in their report.

These amendments will also aid the courts in providing a clear and straightforward process for unexplained wealth prosecutions by allowing police to submit one lot of affidavit material, rather than submitting the same material for every application. Basically, if affidavit material is submitted in support of an initial court application, it will not need to be submitted again in order for it to be considered in proceedings. To streamline further court procedure, these amendments will also allow the courts to follow a simple process to allow property seized under unexplained wealth laws to be used to pay any debt owed to the Commonwealth as the result of an order. These will improve the capacity to enforce unexplained wealth orders and bring the scheme in line with other similar orders in the Proceeds of Crime Act.

These amendments are another tool being introduced by the federal government to help our counterparts in the states and territories deal with the criminal element who deal in death. I commend the bill to the House. I think this legislation is going to help our law enforcement officers around the country. (Time expired)

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In contributing to this debate today on this bill, firstly I want to acknowledge in this place the outstanding work that is being done by the Minister for Justice, the member for Stirling, in dealing with the very serious issues surrounding terrorist activities in Australia. The minister is doing an outstanding job, and I think that is something that is recognised by both sides of this House.

I also want to acknowledge the outstanding work on the ground in my electorate by our local police officers. They are state based police working on the ground in our communities, keeping our people safe. I want to acknowledge the outstanding work being done at a local level by south-west police officers, particularly in relation to the number of very successful drug operations and arrests in recent months. I know that a huge amount of work over an awfully long period of time has gone into these operations, and they have proven to have very sound results. I want to thank in this place all of the officers and others involved for their hard work and dedication to our communities. The officers in my part of the world have gone over and above to deliver these results for our community.

I am out there talking to people all of the time and I have had so much feedback on this issue. I have told the local police about the feedback I am getting. The general public really appreciate this results in their local communities. They often see what is going on. They see what is happening to their communities, particularly in relation to drugs. They certainly value and respect the contribution that our local police officers make when they engage in this sort of activity. There have been really positive comments and reactions from people on the ground. It gives a very clear message to criminals as well. It sends a reinforcing message about the capability of our law enforcement officers, whether they are state or federal. We see them being active together at this moment on some of the issues the nation is facing. I think all of us in this place respect the work that they do. I certainly do. I know that the people in my community respect the work of our local police in the south-west and what they are doing. It sends a very clear message to criminals and it sends a strong message to young people—people of all ages, really—who may be teetering on the edge that the local police are very on the ball and doing the job we have employed them to do.

I, like so many other members in this place, constantly see the damage drugs and organised crime do. I see the amount of damage done, be it to an individual or their broader family. Everybody is affected when one individual in a family has a major drug problem. Illicit drug sales and use then has an impact on the community. Besides that very personal cost, there are massive health costs not just for the community but for the whole health system from treating the many conditions and illnesses that go with sustained drug use. There are physical and mental conditions relating to illicit drug use.

There are some great small businesses on the ground going out of business because they cannot compete with a business that is simply being used to launder money for organised crime. If you are small business whose job it is to make a profit out of your small business, how on earth do you do that when you are competing with a business that is simply laundering money for organised crime? Profit, of course, is not that particular business's priority, but it certainly is for the small businesses right across Australia and in my electorate. As we know, it is frequently organised crime that sits behind those types of illicit activities and businesses. This legislation is targeted at those who sit at the top of these types of organised crime efforts. We have also seen organised crime infiltrating legitimate businesses.

In the work and presentations that I do out and about on cybersafety, the amount of information that comes back to me from people who are being affected by some form of scam or fraud is just extraordinary—and growing rapidly. There is online and cybercrime. There are all sorts of different crimes in this space. There is 'hacktivism'—attacks on individuals, organisations and governments. We are seeing it all, and we will see an increase.

So the minister and this government, as has been very clearly demonstrated in an ongoing way, are deeply committed to doing everything we can to keep Australians safe and our nation itself strong. This bill further strengthens our approach to organised crime. It makes amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act to improve the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws to enhance our capacity to prevent those people engaged in criminal activity from actively benefiting from those activities. It takes away that opportunity for them. The bill delivers more of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement inquiry in 2011.

Unexplained wealth laws, as we know, were introduced in 2010 as part of a suite of reforms aimed at more effectively preventing and investigating organised crime activity and targeting the proceeds of organised crime groups. As I said, there is very strong community support for these laws and a very clear reason for them. The Australian Crime Commission, for instance, conservatively estimates that organised crime currently costs Australia $15 billion a year. That is a conservative analysis, I would think. As I said, it does have a very profound impact on individuals, on businesses, on communities and on industry.

The laws are located in the Proceeds of Crime Act, which provides a really comprehensive scheme to trace, to investigate, to restrain and to confiscate proceeds generated from Commonwealth indictable offences, foreign indictable offences and certain offences against state and territory laws. Under Commonwealth unexplained wealth legislation, if a court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a person's total wealth exceeds the value of the person's wealth that was lawfully acquired, the court can compel the person to attend court and prove, on the balance of probabilities, that their wealth was not derived from one or more relevant offences. If a person cannot demonstrate this, the court may order them to pay to the Commonwealth the difference between their total wealth and their legitimate wealth. There are three types of order which can be sought in relation to unexplained wealth: unexplained wealth restraining orders, preliminary unexplained wealth orders and unexplained wealth orders. They are used for various purposes.

In July 2011, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement initiated an inquiry into Commonwealth unexplained wealth laws, basically to examine the operation of the existing laws, to identify relevant issues and to determine ways in which the laws could be made more effective. The report was handed down in March 2012. It made 18 recommendations about improvements. So the purpose of this bill is to amend the POC Act to actively strengthen the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth regime and to actively improve the investigation and the litigation of unexplained wealth matters. It is very important to improve both the investigation and the litigation of these unexplained wealth matters.

Schedule 1 of the bill contains amendments to the POC Act to implement the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement's recommendations to include a statement in the objects clause about undermining the profitability of criminal enterprise, which is important; to ensure evidence relevant to unexplained wealth proceedings can be seized under a search warrant; to    streamline affidavit requirements for preliminary unexplained wealth orders; to allow the time limit for serving notice of applications for certain unexplained wealth orders to be extended by a court in appropriate circumstances; and to harmonise legal expense and legal aid provisions for unexplained wealth cases with those for other POC Act proceedings to prevent restrained assets from being used to meet legal expenses. I think that is quite a significant part of this particular bill.

The amendments will also allow charges to be created over restrained property to secure payment of an unexplained wealth order, as can occur with other types of proceeds of crime order; remove a court's discretion to make unexplained wealth restraining orders, preliminary unexplained wealth orders and unexplained wealth orders once relevant criteria are satisfied; require the AFP Commissioner to provide a report to the PJCLE annually on unexplained wealth matters and litigation; and empower the committee to seek further information from federal agencies in relation to such a report.

Schedule 1 of the bill also contains amendments to the POC Act that do not relate to specific recommendations of the committee but have been identified as necessary to support the amendments that I outlined above and to address some of the inefficiencies in the act. They clarify that unexplained wealth orders may be made where a person who is subject to the order fails to appear at an unexplained wealth proceeding. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that persons cannot frustrate unexplained wealth proceedings by simply failing to appear when they are required to do so. The amendment will give effect to the original intent of the unexplained wealth scheme in the POC Act.

The amendments will ensure that provisions in the act that determine when restraining orders cease to have effect take account of the new provisions allowing charges to be created and registered over restrained property to secure the payment of unexplained wealth amounts and the fact that unexplained wealth restraining orders may sometimes be made after an unexplained wealth order, not only before. Consequential amendments are proposed to ensure that provisions allowing a court to order costs in certain situations where a restraining order has ceased take account of these amendments. These are very practical additions.

The amendments further streamline the making of preliminary unexplained wealth orders, remove redundant and unnecessary affidavit requirements in support of applications for preliminary unexplained wealth orders, and ensure that a copy of the affidavit relied on must be provided to the person who is subject to the order in light of the changes to the affidavit requirements.

There have been some concerns about the bill's impact on the right to privacy and the protection of families and children. In order for an interference with the right not to be arbitrary, the interference must be for a reason consistent with the ICCPR and must be reasonable in the particular circumstances. Reasonableness in this context incorporates notions of proportionality, appropriateness and necessity. In essence, this requires that limitations serve a legitimate objective, limitations adopt a means that is rationally connected to that objective and the means adopted are not more restrictive than they need to be to achieve that objective.

The POC Act enables proceeds of crime authorities to disclose information obtained using coercive powers under the POC Act with state, territory and foreign authorities for the purpose of assisting in the prevention, the investigation and the prosecution of serious and indictable offences. As a result, provisions of the POC Act interact with the right to privacy.

The bill also amends the existing disclosure rules to clarify that disclosures can be made to a state, territory or foreign authority that has a role in identifying, locating, tracing, investigating or confiscating proceeds of crime under the law of the state, territory or foreign country, in order to assist in the identification, location, tracing, investigation or confiscation of proceeds of crime. This is all part of how we deal with those who sit in the space of organised crime. This amendment is necessary to clarify that information can be shared with such authorities to assist in proceeds of crime proceedings or in the decision to commence such proceedings. The amendments made by this bill will ensure that the government continues to have strong laws to target the substantial profits made by serious and organised crime.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I add my voice to the chorus of support for the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014 can I do two things. I congratulate the member for Forrest on her contribution to this important debate. As a former criminal lawyer, can I say it was well considered and I am sure very well received. I also congratulate the Minister for Justice and acknowledge the very important work he has been undertaking over recent days in this place—of course, this bill is in his name. I can only think of the stresses that are placed on him at a time of national crisis, such as that we are facing. My thoughts go out to the law enforcement men and women of this country. They are people I had a lot to do with in my former life as a criminal lawyer.

In that context I think I provide something of a unique perspective on this bill. As a community member I have a deep interest in ensuring that the community in which I live is safe and secure, in ensuring that we have measures that support the halting of crime and profits flowing from criminal bosses and in doing everything we can to limit the incentives for criminal activity. As a former criminal lawyer I come to this place with a perspective from the inside, if you like—not that I ever acted for criminal kingpins. Rather, I acted for people that I would describe as the criminal underlings, who were in very many respects victims in their own right, which is something I will speak about.

It is trite but I will say it: serious and organised crime poses a significant threat to all Australian communities and to people from all walks of life. We have seen high-profile outlaw motorcycle gangs, ethnic based criminal syndicates and other criminal enterprises go about exploiting hardworking Australian families. By ensuring that these criminal enterprises are not able to profit from their illegal actions we are providing a deterrent and protecting those hardworking families. Of course, most importantly, we are bringing criminals to justice.

That is the reason that we are taking the action in this bill that targets unexplained wealth. Unexplained wealth laws turn the tables on organised criminals who live off the benefits of their illegal activities at the expense of ordinary Australians and provide an avenue to target criminal kingpins, who enjoy the proceeds of crime without in any real sense getting their hands dirty in the trenches of criminal activity. I have spent a decade acting for people and ensuring that they receive justice and fair trials, but they are very often the criminal underlings. They are coopted into a life of crime, usually because of addiction or some other element, such as psychological frailty, and they are used as pawns by kingpins, who enjoy the proceeds of criminal activity and live the high life, if you like.

I am sure it has been mentioned many times in this debate that the most famous example of an unexplained wealth case is the prosecution of Al Capone in Chicago in the thirties. He profited from his illegal bootlegging enterprise and financed a number of criminal activities, including corruption and murder. It was by investigating sources of his illegitimate, unexplained wealth and undertaking a prosecution of him that the authorities were ultimately able to bring him to justice, albeit via the unusual course of a tax office prosecution.

There are of course a number of other examples where the proceeds of crime have been used to identify criminal activity rather than a criminal act in and of itself. One of the reasons why this is so important might not have been spoken about in this place. I have sat in interview rooms and had discussions with clients who the police know and I know are nothing but pawns in the process, but they do not, cannot and will not assist police authorities for fear of their own life. They are so scared about offering up any information about those people who have effectively turned them into victims that they keep shtum, and the kingpins continue on their campaign where they provide illicit substances to young men and women and extort ordinary everyday Australians. These measures strengthen the ability of law enforcement officers to go about these prosecutions without the need to obtain that often very difficult evidence from those involved as criminal underlings.

In appropriate circumstances, unexplained wealth laws allow a court to order a person to demonstrate, quite rightly, that his or her wealth has been lawfully acquired. If they are unable to do so, the person may be ordered to forfeit their illegitimate wealth. Unexplained wealth laws are a highly effective tool, as I have said, for fighting against serious and organised crime. Taking the profits out of criminal syndicates undermines the entire business model of the criminal group and prevents illicit funds from being reinvested to support further criminal activity.

I will pause at this point to say that undermining business models of criminal activity is something that has been discussed at length in this place, in another portfolio area, and I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister for Immigration for the work he has done to undermine that abhorrent trade in people: people-smuggling. What we have done, and what the minister has done so efficiently, so professionally and so methodically, is bust up the business model for the people smugglers. That highlights how important it is when you are fighting criminal syndicates and crime in general to go after the business model, because ultimately that is what is motivating the kingpins. The criminal underlings are perhaps motivated by their illicit-substance addiction or by other factors, but the kingpins, it will not surprise you to learn, are motivated by nothing more than money.

The coalition's policy to tackle crime promises to strengthen the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws to ensure that we have the toughest framework possible to target criminal proceeds. This commitment followed the 2011 inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement into the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws and arrangements. In its final report, the joint committee found that unexplained wealth provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 were not working as intended. The committee made 18 recommendations aimed at improving the investigation and, importantly, prosecution of Commonwealth unexplained wealth matters. While some of these recommendations have been implemented, there are a number outstanding, and we are seeking to rectify this situation as part of the commitment to make the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws as effective as possible.

There are effectively three measures in the bills, as you have heard from others. We are seeking to ensure the most effective framework for law enforcement to investigate and take action to target unexplained wealth and to streamline the processes for obtaining unexplained wealth orders while ensuring that appropriate safeguards are in place. We are also seeking to close the loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act so that we avoid the prospect of people escaping unexplained wealth actions and frustrating court processes.

In the time I have left I will briefly outline the amendments under each of these aims in further detail. As to the effective law enforcement framework, we are seeking to ensure that law enforcement powers are sufficient to target and restrain criminal assets. The bill will amend existing search-and-seizure powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act to allow authorised officers to seize material relevant to unexplained wealth. This amendment will address some uncertainty that exists under current arrangements. Other measures will enhance the ability of law enforcement to share information obtained under the Proceeds of Crime Act. To balance this expansion of power, which we must always do in this place, the bill requires the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police to report annually to the parliament's Joint Committee on Law Enforcement on the number of unexplained wealth investigations and applications. This will strengthen the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement's oversight of the use of these powers and ensure that appropriate checks and balances are in place.

As to the second aim—streamlining processes for obtaining unexplained wealth orders—as well as ensuring that law-enforcement agencies are better placed to attack the profits of criminal syndicates, the bill also responds to the joint committee's recommendation aimed at improving the efficiency and fairness of unexplained wealth laws. Under the bill, a court will no longer have an overarching discretion to refuse to make an unexplained wealth order for suspected wealth of $100,000 or more. The joint committee considered that there were adequate safeguards already contained in the act. The court will retain its discretion for orders for suspected wealth of less than $100,000 and will still be able to refuse to make an order if satisfied that it is not in the public interest. Removing the general discretion will improve certainty for parties while also maintaining appropriate protections for those who are subjected to unexplained wealth orders.

The bill will also reduce unnecessary duplication in affidavit requirements—and as someone who has drafted many of those I am sure that prosecutors around the country are cheering that—by repealing certain requirements where police have already presented the same affidavit material in support of an earlier application. The bill will also improve the court's ability to enforce an unexplained wealth order by setting out a process to allow a restrained property to be used to pay a debt owed to the Commonwealth under an unexplained wealth order. This will improve the enforcement of unexplained wealth orders and bring the scheme into line with other types of orders provided for in the Proceeds of Crime Act.

We must close the loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act. The bill does that. It addresses those loopholes that were identified by the joint committee. The bill will prevent restrained assets which may have been unlawfully acquired from being disbursed on legal expenses by people who are trying to frustrate the unexplained wealth proceedings. They will instead be able to seek representation through Legal Aid, as is the case with other Proceeds of Crime orders. The bill will also clarify that a person whose property is subject to a preliminary unexplained wealth order is prevented from frustrating unexplained wealth proceedings by simply failing to appear when ordered to do so.

In concluding, in addition to the further minor amendments made by the bill, these changes represent a major reform of the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws. The measures have been informed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement's comprehensive inquiry and extensive consultation with law-enforcement agencies and other stakeholders. I am confident that these additional powers will assist the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in bringing the kingpins I talked about to the justice they deserve. It is so common that the criminal underlings serve their penalty; it is so uncommon that the kingpins who drive this behaviour, who enjoy the proceeds of this behaviour, are brought to justice. These measures make it more likely. They strengthen the Commonwealth's capacity and are a measure of this government's resolve to go after serious and organised crime—because ultimately it is having a significant and deleterious effect on our community's safety and welfare. I highly commend this bill to the House.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In supporting the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014, by way of background I note that the majority of the amendments in it were previously included in the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2012, which was introduced into the House of Representatives on 28 November 2012 and subsequently into the Senate on 6 February 2013—but which lapsed at the end of the 43rd Parliament. The main amendments in the current 2014 bill which were not included in the 2012 bill are the insertion of an additional objective of undermining the profitability of criminal enterprises into the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; the removal of the requirement for authorised officers to meet an evidence threshold test for a preliminary unexplained wealth order where the evidence threshold test has already been met; clarification that a court may make an unexplained wealth order even if the person to whom the order relates failed to appear as required by a preliminary unexplained wealth order; and the allowance of information obtained using coercive powers under the act to be shared with state and foreign law enforcement authorities for the purposes of proceeds of crime investigations and litigation.

Organised crime—and its links to terrorism—is a major issue facing our nation. Transnational organised crime globally was estimated to have generated US$870 million in illicit profits in 2009. The Australian Crime Commission conservatively estimates organised crime to cost Australia in the order of $15 billion annually. Australia is inextricably linked to international organised crime through international financial transfers and the flow of illicit goods and persons into our nation. Australia's National Security Strategy, released in January 2013, lists organised crime as one of the seven key national security risks. Organised crime has capitalised on globalisation and the rapid technological development of the internet, enabling overseas based criminals to target Australia through cross-border links, commerce and trade, and the funding of terrorist organisations.

Organised crime undermines the very integrity of Australia's financial and taxation systems. It creates inequity by shifting the tax burden onto legitimate and law-abiding citizens and businesses. No suburb or locality in Australia is spared from the scourge of organised crime. In my electorate there was an attempt last year by an outlaw motorcycle gang to establish a new chapter and clubhouse. At the time, whilst serving on the Wanneroo City Council, I moved to reject the development application on planning grounds. The police district superintendent, Charlie Carver, made a presentation to council with evidence that the bikie gang was involved in the illicit manufacture and distribution of drugs, as well as standover tactics. Police raids in the area have uncovered several kilograms of drugs and precursor chemicals, as well as a substantial amount of cash and illegal weapons. This represents only one example of organised crime operating in a suburban environment.

The coalition government is serious about targeting organised crime and minimising its spread by implementing a strict regime of border protection and law enforcement, and by introducing unexplained wealth legislation such as this bill, which is designed to target and confiscate the wealth of senior organised crime figures who profit from crime. By confiscating illegally gained wealth, the government is removing the incentive for the commission of crime.

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Organised Crime and Other Measures) Act 2012 provides for three types of orders relating to unexplained wealth. Firstly, it provides for unexplained wealth restraining orders, which restrict a person's ability to dispose of or deal with property. Secondly, it provides for preliminary orders, which require a person to attend court for the purpose of enabling the court to decide whether to make an unexplained wealth order. Thirdly, it provides for unexplained wealth orders, which require a person to pay the amount determined by the court to be the difference between the person's total wealth and that which has been legitimately acquired.

Unlike existing confiscation orders, unexplained wealth orders will not require proof of a link to the commission of a specific offence, which may be extremely difficult to prove in an organised crime context. Rather, the court is required to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the person has committed an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, a foreign indictable offence or a state offence that has a federal aspect, or that part of the person's wealth was derived from an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, a foreign indictable offence or a state offence that has a federal aspect. In that sense, the new measures represent a significant shift in law enforcement strategy.

In response to the growing threat of organised crime syndicates infiltrating Australian society, the government is taking steps to ensure that the Australian Crime Commission and other relevant law enforcement agencies have appropriate surveillance and investigative powers. Information sharing between law enforcement agencies and the Australian Taxation Office will also be improved. The government will target organised crime by confiscating the profits and assets of criminal syndicates—thereby undermining their business model—through the development of a national unexplained wealth scheme, mandatory freezing orders and international agreements relating to unexplained wealth.

The Australian Crime Commission's organised crime threat assessment 2012 identified six distinct illicit activities as being key enablers of organised crime, namely money laundering, cybercrime and technology enabled crime, identity crime, exploitation of business structures, corruption and violence. According to a 2013 Australian Crime Commission report, organised crime groups in Australia are currently using sophisticated networks of businesses, proprietary companies and trusts to enable a range of organised crime and regulatory offences. Professional advisers have a significant role in helping organised crime exploit business structures by drawing on their specialist skills, knowledge, expertise and resources.

The involvement of organised crime in the importation, manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs in Australia disrupts lives, burdens the health system and causes deaths. A long list of drugs includes methylamphetamine, precursor chemicals for illegal drug manufacture in clandestine laboratories, cocaine, heroin, MDMA, cannabis, opioid analgesics, benzodiazepines, performance- and image-enhancing drugs, to name a few. Confiscating the proceeds of drug dealers in our suburbs and communities is a powerful way to remove the incentive to break the law.

Credit card fraud is on the increase. Between 2010 and 2012 there was a 26 per cent increase in fraud recorded against Australian-issued credit cards, costing consumers and the banking industry $262 million. Similarly, Australia's financial and banking systems are also being targeted by fraud schemes involving mass marketing, investments, advance fees, superannuation, securities, the share market, mortgages and loans.

Crime syndicates are also involved in revenue-generating activities such as intellectual property crime through the manufacture, importation and distribution of counterfeit goods, and software, music and video piracy. The black market trade costs industry billions of dollars in lost royalties which, in turn, results in forgone taxation revenue for government.

Firearm trafficking by crime gangs undermines the integrity of our firearm-licensing system. Weapons smuggled across borders and sold to criminals are a risk to public safety. The misuse of firearms creates a negative perception of legitimate firearm use by sporting shooters and disadvantages law-abiding firearm owners.

Organised crime syndicates are involved in human trafficking and maritime people-smuggling. Illegal immigrants in Australia without the proper class of visa are being exploited by crime syndicates as cheap labour. I refer to a recent interagency police raid on a rural property in Carabooda, near the border of my electorate, where it was reported in the media that approximately 170 foreign nationals allegedly working without visas were detained, several hundred thousand dollars in cash was confiscated, several kilograms of illicit drugs were seized and 21 unlicensed firearms were impounded. In addition, there are credible reports that the syndicate allegedly offered illegal labour hire to neighbouring farms. The entire operation would have generated substantial profits, which this legislation would seek to confiscate.

The problem of international organised crime infiltrating Australia is a serious threat to our community and the integrity of our financial and taxation system. Our vast borders and the relatively relaxed nature of our current systems enable the international flow of illicit funds and money-laundering schemes from nations with less rigorous forms of governance. It is, therefore, essential for the government to take measures to address the situation. The International Crime Cooperation Central Authority in the Attorney-General's Department liaises with international law enforcement and justice partners in formal government-to-government requests for mutual assistance and extradition. Australian agencies must cooperate by obtaining and providing evidence to assist with foreign investigations and prosecutions as well as seeking coercive action to support foreign investigations and prosecutions. By using multi-agency task forces to combine and coordinate a range of Commonwealth, state and territory capabilities, a more effective response to organised crime can be provided.

In summary, the bill seeks to provide a strong deterrent to those involved in organised crime by targeting the proceeds of crime and unexplained wealth. Wealth that cannot be demonstrated to have been acquired by legitimate means will be forfeited. This is part of the coalition government's strong stance on border protection and law enforcement. We must never allow organised crime syndicates to gain a foothold in Australian society. I commend the bill to the House.

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the outset, I commend the member for Calare for his contribution. He put it very well when he said that the crimes of yesterday will help to prevent the crimes of tomorrow—it is a very apt description of the effectiveness of this legislation. This is legislation that has been in place for a number of years, but that needs to be improved so we can ensure we have the most stringent laws to crack down on crime. It is a series of amendments that will strengthen the framework, and in doing so will strengthen public confidence that those with ill-gotten gains will never have any closure and that those gains can be obtained with unexplained wealth provisions and can be put back into the community. It makes those involved in illegal activities with unexplained wealth think twice that, as I said a few minutes ago, there will not be closure—they can be asked the question any day and if they cannot prove that their wealth was obtained legitimately, they will face the consequences of their actions.

A number of speakers have participated in this debate, and I want to focus briefly on a few aspects. The legislation in this area has been in place for a number of years. The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement examined its effectiveness during the last parliament and found that the legislation had some defects that should be corrected and that some of the provisions were not operating in the way that they were originally intended. As the member for Calare and other speakers on this side have pointed out, the coalition took to the last election a strong policy to legislate in the way that we are doing right here in the House today. I want to commend the minister, Mr Keenan, for his focus in this area, both in opposition and in government, and in bringing these amendments to strengthen these important provisions into the House so we can deal with them as soon as possible.

I want to focus on one set of amendments, which a number of people have mentioned, that I think are perhaps the major improvement in this legislation—that is to ensure through the amendments that proceeds of crime which have been seized cannot be used in legal defence. The member for La Trobe touched on this last night. He said that seized proceeds can no longer be used to fund a defendant's legal case. Clearly, when someone with unexplained wealth that has been derived from criminal activity faces the prospect of losing all of it, the capacity to be able to use that for their legal defence means, in many cases, there is absolutely no end to their legal resources. Naturally, they can use it not only to tie up the system, but it is also a situation where the normal incentives do not operate. As the minister outlined in his speech, people of course should have legal representation—that is not at issue: that is why we have the legal aid system—but that is certainly something that was identified, and something that will be a major improvement in the bill.

I want to give a lot of credit to the member for La Trobe. All of us know of his expertise as a former senior member of the Victorian police in this particular area and it is something that he has spoken about in this parliament for many, many years. Back in 2009 he was part of a bipartisan delegation that went to Canada, the United States, Italy, Austria, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands looking at exactly this issue. As he said, the committee learnt a lot of things from the authorities, but they got one consistent message wherever they went, and that was that, if you go after the money, you can bring down organised crime. As he said last night, crime is about creating wealth and creating power, and the world of criminals' power will not come without great wealth, but if you take away the money you take away the power. That is the heart and soul of this legislation. It is something that he has been passionate about in our party room and in the parliament, which has benefited greatly from his expertise.

As speakers have pointed out, the proceeds of crime, once obtained, go back into the community to fight crime. The member for Calare aptly summed that up, as I said in the beginning. The most practical benefits for our local communities are in investments like closed-circuit TV security cameras—a proven weapon against local crime and a proven deterrent against anti-social behaviour. The very first federal grants in this area were made I think in 2005 or 2006. It was the former Howard government that decided it should step in and provide grants for local community groups to install closed-circuit television security cameras in our shopping malls and on our streets. It took the federal government to take the initiative back then, even although we do not run state police forces. I distinctly remember community groups in my electorate applying for these cameras after the federal government invented the program to enable these installations to occur. The very first cameras in our area were installed in Lilydale, at the train station. There were sceptics, but in a very short time where there had been a very high rate of crime and antisocial behaviour—lots of thefts from cars in the car park during the day—crime was reduced by 70 per cent almost overnight.

In the main street of Croydon, now in the electorate of the member for Deakin, they had huge problems, and it was through a federal grant, matched by a big contribution from the local community group, that a batch of security cameras were installed in the main street, with a live feed straight to the police station. That had a huge impact overnight. I know my friend and colleague who is speaking after me, the member for Deakin, has worked very hard and has made a number of commitments in these areas as well. In the electorate of Casey, because of this proceeds of crime legislation and our commitment, we are going to have further upgrades in the area. Consistent with the commitment I made at the last election, we will extend and enhance that network in Lilydale so that it can cover a wider area and we will install new networks in Healesville and Yarra Junction. I pay tribute to the Lilydale Centre Safe Committee and its chairman, Mr Alister Osborne, who is coordinating the rollout which will occur in the not too distant future.

This is important legislation. It is legislation that shows the parliament working at its best and it is legislation that we are very confident will dramatically improve the operation of the act, and with the oversight committee doing its job in the months and years ahead if there is any need for further improvements the government and the parliament will stand ready to deal with them.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is fantastic to follow the contribution of my colleague the member for Casey. He did an outstanding job looking after a patch of Deakin when it was part of Casey by ensuring that the main street of Croydon got CCTV. That is an enduring legacy of his hard work and I think ultimately it is a great example of the fruits of the changes I will discuss today in the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill. Ensuring that we use the proceeds of crime for, effectively, crime-fighting infrastructure is of great benefit to the community. I will speak a little later in my contribution about the ways in which we are using those measures in the electorate of Deakin.

The bill contains a number of measures that will be effective in hurting the criminal kingpins where it hurts them the most—in their pockets. I was staggered to learn, as I think most Australians would be, that the criminal economy in Australia is worth around $15 billion, according to the Australian Crime Commission—that is $15 billion of illegitimate wealth. The question that immediately springs to my mind is what is the cost of that to all our communities. I am sure everyone in this place—I heard other contributions earlier—has stories about how crime has damaged their community. In my electorate of Deakin, as in many other electorates around the country, one example that immediately springs to mind is the ice epidemic we are currently facing. Just this month my local paper, the Maroondah Leaderan outstanding publication—reported on how the trafficking of crystal methamphetamine—ice—is worsening and police resources are being severely tied up in dealing with this threat. I am informed that in my patch the police are arresting up to 20 drug traffickers a month and, as one senior sergeant said, 'When we arrest one trafficker, another one jumps into his place.'

What of the people who are buying this ice? Unfortunately we know all too well what this insidious drug can do to people, inducing unpredictable psychosis and other often violent behaviour. There is no doubt that there is a direct link between the supply of ice and crimes such as burglaries, thefts from cars, assaults and other street-type offences. Police are doing an exceptional job and they are using all the tools in their chest to stop the scourge of these drugs. I often applaud their hard work and dedication, and I do so again today. But what we in this place have a responsibility to do is to help our police, our state government departments and our communities by introducing laws that will help them combat crime at all levels.

We have a responsibility to protect our communities and to create a safer and more secure Australia, and that is what the bill before us today does. It introduces tough measures that strike at the heart of organised crime. These are tough measures that target the people who make their money out of other people's misery, who live off other people's addictions through drug trafficking, as I have mentioned, illegal gambling and many others, who prey on the vulnerable through cybercrime, identity theft, who rip us all off through money laundering and tax evasion and who commit or order violent and other abhorrent acts, including assaults, murders and human trafficking.

What I think is important for Australians to understand is that these measures are focused on people who not only make their money out of other people's misery but also insulate themselves from the dirty work—the so-called kingpins, the bosses. Unexplained wealth laws are a very effective weapon as they take away what crime bosses value most in the world, and that is money. These laws give courts the power to order a person to prove that their wealth was legally acquired; if they cannot, they may be ordered to forfeit their illegitimate wealth.

As other speakers have mentioned, unexplained wealth laws do already exist in Australia, but these laws need to be strengthened. We took our policy to tackle crime to the last election and in that we promised to bolster laws and close loopholes to create the toughest possible regime to cut organised crime off from the profits it needs to reinvest in criminal activity. Today's bill fulfils that promise to the Australian people. I therefore want to congratulate the Minister for Justice, the Hon. Michael Keenan, on his dedication to strengthening the unexplained wealth laws and to combating organised crime more broadly.

I know that the minister is strongly focused on establishing a national and cohesive approach to organised crime, of which today's bill forms one crucial part. It was in fact the focus of discussions between the Commonwealth and the states and territories at the inaugural Law, Crime and Community Safety Council in July. I was pleased to hear that at the council meeting the various jurisdictions agreed to look at developing a cooperative scheme that will support a national approach to the seizure of unexplained wealth. A working group will also be established to assist with this task. Again, I commend and congratulate the minister for his success in bringing the various jurisdictions together in this very important battle.

The minister in his second reading speech went through the finer details of the measures in the bill and how they will operate, so I will not go into those in great detail today. However, I do want to touch on what the amendments in this bill—some of them I foreshadowed a little earlier—are designed to do. The amendments stem from the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement inquiry into the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws and arrangements in 2011. The committee made a number of recommendations—18 recommendations, in fact—in its final report, some of which had not been implemented until now. The inquiry involved extensive consultation by law enforcement agencies and stakeholders to make sure that the recommendations put forward achieved the right balance of providing the agencies with the tools they need to investigate and target unexplained wealth while, at the same time, ensuring appropriate protections remain in place. From what I have read, today's bill gets the balance right and will be welcomed by law enforcement agencies, including Victoria Police in my patch, as they continue to do an outstanding job in tackling serious and organised crime.

Firstly, the amendments seek to strengthen the powers of law enforcement agencies by giving them more tools to go after the profits of criminal syndicates. The bill boosts search and seizure powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act and also makes it easier for state, territory and foreign authorities to share information and work cooperatively. Secondly, the bill seeks to streamline the laws, making them fairer and removing uncertainty. The courts' overarching discretion to refuse to make unexplained wealth orders for suspected wealth in excess of $100,000 will be removed, creating greater certainty for all parties. But I stress that appropriate protections do remain in place, with the court retaining its discretion to refuse an order if it is satisfied that that refusal would be in the public interest. Finally, the bill closes a number of existing loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act. People will be prevented—the member for Casey went into some detail on this—from using restrained assets to cover legal expenses to defend an unexplained wealth case; instead, as with other proceeds of crime orders, they will be able to seek legal aid. I echo the member for Casey's comment in that respect: it is a perverse outcome if a criminal boss in a certain case may be able to string out or unduly tie up the resources of a court by using restrained assets to fund, effectively, a protracted court case. Also, people whose property is subject to a preliminary unexplained wealth order will be prevented from frustrating the proceedings simply by failing to appear at court. That is a glaring hole in the current laws, and I think it is a very sensible change. We hope this reform will help to usher in a new era of combating organised crime by giving both the police and the courts the powers that they need to enforce the unexplained wealth laws.

It is also fitting that the criminal profits should fund crime prevention infrastructure. Every dollar that we take from a criminal through the unexplained wealth laws will be reinvested into crime-fighting infrastructure. It is a common sense approach and it has certainly been welcomed in my electorate of Deakin, where the coalition government is investing $600,000 to improve public safety through the Safer Streets Programme. It is $680,000 generated from criminal activity that will now make our community a safer place in which to live and work. Of that funding, $400,000 will be used to install CCTV cameras in Railway Avenue, Ringwood East and central Ringwood, where people have expressed to me their concerns about feeling unsafe walking at night. CCTV has proved to be a very helpful tool for deterring crime and assisting police to identify offenders, so much so that many groups in my electorate of Deakin are expressing to me their wish to have additional CCTV in our area. Another $200,000 for the Deakin electorate will go towards the installation of lighting in Nunawading, where the local traders association voiced fears that a lack of lighting makes passers-by and many of their customers feel very unsafe at night.

The final piece of the Safer Streets funding for Deakin is $80,000 that we have provided in the budget to assist the Whitehorse City Council with the cost of a retrofitted graffiti truck to help with the more rapid removal of graffiti in the municipality. If people feel unsafe because of anti-social graffiti in the area, we want to combat that at all levels.

All of these crime prevention measures will make a real difference to safety in my community. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that they have been funded by money that would otherwise have gone to furthering criminal activity. These measures are but a few examples of the good use that illegitimate wealth can be put to, and the great benefit that can come for all of us from the unexplained wealth laws.

I look forward to the bill passing, and, hopefully, to hearing media reports of successful police investigations and prosecutions of unexplained wealth cases and to knowing that, on each occasion, the Commonwealth has broken a criminal syndicate and taken away the money the syndicate relies on to continue its destructive activities. Ultimately, each successful prosecution will mean less money going into the pockets of drug traffickers, money launderers and thugs, and more money being invested in productively in our society, through crime prevention initiatives.

It is a sad reality that serious and organised crime represents a significant threat to the safety and security of our nation, as we all know too well. But today's bill goes a long way towards helping to tackle that threat and to undermining serious and organised crime. I am pleased to have been able to support this bill, and I look forward to the implementation of the reforms it contain, which ultimately will help to create a more safe and secure Australia.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to add to the earlier comments on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014 by the members for Casey and Deakin, and many others. It is a great pleasure to speak to this bill today. The purpose of the bill is to strengthen the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth regime. This is a really important step in the fulfilment of the coalition's election commitment to tackle crime, and in the implementation of a very comprehensive national policy approach on the issue.

I would like to start by elaborating on how serious this problem is in Australia. It is quite startling when you consider that the Australian Crime Commission estimates that money gained from criminal activity in Australia is a very significant $15 billion. That is $15 billion gained from illegal activities that damage and threaten the security of the communities in which we all reside, work and live. Criminal activity can be anything. Many members who spoke earlier outlined some of those areas of criminal activity. It could be illicit drugs; fraud; money laundering and other financial crimes; trade in illicit firearms; criminal activity in sports, particularly in areas such as match fixing; and environmental crimes, such as trade in protected species. By no means is this an exhaustive list. There are many other areas in this country in which criminal activity seeks to engage. There is a very simple rule here: wherever there are easy profits to be made, there is crime, and there will always be people who will find ways to engage in crime.

The particular difficulty in tackling organised crime relates to some of its defining features. There is a very sophisticated system of transnational connections, which is a large feature of it; the activities quite often are spread over several markets; and, most difficult of all, there is a mixture of legitimate and illegal activities, which sometimes makes it really hard to define just what are illegitimate profits.

Under the amendments proposed in the unexplained wealth bill, the courts will be able to require a person to demonstrate that their wealth was lawfully acquired. Failure to do so could mean forfeiture of illegitimate wealth. I am heartened by the thought that this would reduce the profit motive for the criminal kingpins behind organised crime networks and activities, and it would debase any illusion that these profits would go undetected indefinitely. While completely eliminating crime is unlikely, these kingpins are at the top of the criminal food chain, and they are responsible for peddling misery. They are usually insulated from the day-to-day operations of crime, and they stand to gain the most financially from all of these particular activities.

The proposed bill also provides law enforcers with much more teeth in tackling unexplained wealth, and that is a good thing. The bill is a part of the Abbott government's comprehensive strategy to tackle a central feature of organised crime, but would also implement eight recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement as, part of their 2011 inquiry into unexplained wealth laws and arrangements.

In terms of the particular bill, there are some specifics which I would like to highlight today. Firstly, the bill seeks to ensure the most effective framework for law enforcement is in place to investigate and target unexplained wealth. It will also be the subject of ongoing monitoring, including through an annual report on unexplained wealth matters and litigation by the AFP commissioner to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement. In turn, the committee will be able to also seek further information from federal agencies, which is much improved.

Secondly, this bill seeks to streamline the processes for obtaining unexplained wealth orders while ensuring that there are very adequate and appropriate safeguards. That includes a number of aspects, such as streamlining the affidavit requirements for preliminary unexplained wealth orders and the removal of redundant and unnecessary affidavit requirements in support of applications for preliminary unexplained wealth orders. The overall focus of these measures is to remove the disincentive of unnecessary red tape to ensure that unexplained wealth comes under increasing scrutiny in the courts.

Thirdly, the bill would close loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act that potentially make it easier to escape unexplained wealth actions and frustrate court processes. This includes, for example, harmonising legal proceedings to prevent restrained assets being used to meet legal expenses and a whole raft of other measures.

On a concluding note, unexplained wealth, without a robust framework for investigation and action, where necessary, is a threat to all Australians and must be addressed at all levels of government. The bill reflects growing momentum nationally to target organised crime, and the topic of this was of much discussion during COAG meetings. It also builds on the very hard work already done by Minister Keenan, and I would like to congratulate him and his department, particularly for trying to establish a cohesive national approach to organised crime. I also recognise the headway made by other state governments, even in my own state of Queensland by the Queensland Police and state government. I would like to thank them for all the work that they have done to date. In my state, we are the beneficiaries of the Safer Streets program, which has provided funds for CCTV and lights. Areas such as Fortitude Valley, Ascot and Petrie Terrace will be the beneficiaries of this fund, and they are very worthwhile projects that will make our streets safer. In particular, I look forward to working with the Brisbane City Council on these projects. Safer streets are good for all of us.

The issue of unexplained wealth was raised specifically with states and territories at the inaugural Law, Crime and Community Safety Council on 4 July. The jurisdictions have agreed to consider a cooperative scheme in support of a national approach to the seizure of unexplained wealth. It is hoped that a working group will be the next step in progressing this issue between these two levels of government. I strongly support the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014. It is absolutely integral if Australia is to have the strongest unexplained wealth regime possible. This bill supports and builds momentum towards what must be a comprehensive national approach to keeping Australian communities safe. I commend it to the House.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014. Mr Deputy Speaker, I certainly know that you would be well aware that serious and organised crime is a serious threat to the safety and security of our nation. I am going to mention a figure here. It has been mentioned before, but I do not think we can mention this figure too much. The Australian Crime Commission estimates the criminal economy in Australia is worth around $15 billion. That is a big figure for us to digestive. As the member for Brisbane mentioned, basically, this money is raised by peddling misery.

What does this $15 billion mean and where does it come from? This is money that is made by people who are peddling things like ice, opiates, ecstasy, marijuana and many other commodities in our economy. What are those things doing? They are destroying our youth and they are causing misery in our local communities. Fifteen billion dollars is bigger than a lot of markets for a lot of products in our economy. Ten or 15 years ago I read that just the drug trade—and this is about more than just drugs, but drugs are a big part of this—is up there in dollar value with oil and coffee. If you look at the total amount of oil and coffee that is traded around the world each year, they are big markets. A lot of people make a lot of money out of oil and coffee. The illicit drug trade is up there with that.

That is an amazing statistic. What does that mean? That means that there are a few things going on. Obviously, organised crime is making a lot of money, and a lot of these people are very invisible in our community. They are not the people that you read about in the Rich 200 list. They do not advertise that, but they are up there. Some of the richest people in our community, who are invisible, have made their money out of these types of activities. Globally, some of the richest people in the world are people who are peddling illegal and illicit activities. The other effect that it has, and why these laws are good, is that we have criminal activity both from the seller and the buyer of these products. Also, because these people are so wealthy, there is a lot of bribery that occurs with officials and so forth. So strengthening the legislation through this bill is very important.

As it has been previously mentioned, this was a commitment made by the coalition government. It was an election commitment. Unexplained wealth laws are aimed at taking the profit motive out of organised crime. They target criminal kingpins who insulate themselves from the day-to-day operations of their criminal organisation, but who profit from the misery they peddle.

The other aspect is that—and this has been mentioned before, too—obviously, that the money from this is going to go into crime prevention. I think it was mentioned by someone a little earlier that it is like yesterday's crimes are paying to prevent tomorrow's potential crimes. Just in my local community: I, too, have been lucky enough to work with the Richmond Valley Council. They have some crime issues that they feel made some parts of their streets unsafe to walk around on at night. We were able to obtain, with the good work of the people at the Richmond Valley Council—John Walker, the general manager, and Ernie Bennett, the Mayor, and their staff—over $400,000 for CCTV cameras that will be put in around the streets of Casino. This is going to be great for their community.

The unexplained wealth laws give the court the ability to order a person to demonstrate that their wealth was lawfully acquired. If they cannot, the person may be ordered to forfeit their illegitimate wealth. To be perfectly honest, this is not rocket science, is it? If you have had a successful business and you have done well it is pretty easy to show through your tax records. Even if you have inherited money or won the lottery there are some sorts of trails for those where you can say, 'Look, I have a good life and I've done the right thing.' And they deserve the wealth and the success that they have. If, however, you seem to be living a very wonderful life and cannot explain that, these laws are meant to make sure that if you have gained it illegitimately then you will be penalised for that.

It implements a number of recommendations by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement in their 2011 inquiry into unexplained wealth laws and arrangements. As I said, this was a key commitment in the coalition's policy to tackle crime. The bill seeks to do three fundamental things: to ensure the most effective framework for law enforcement to investigate and to take action to target unexplained wealth; to streamline the processes for obtaining unexplained wealth orders whilst ensuring appropriate safeguards; and to close loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act that potentially make it easier to escape under unexplained wealth actions and to frustrate court process. Again, Mr Deputy Speaker, guess what? These people who have obtained this wealth—often a lot of it—usually do not get the cheaper suburban lawyer to try to get them out of these spots. They employ the best legal brains that this country has. So closing these loopholes is very important for that.

It is important for the Commonwealth to have the strongest unexplained wealth regime possible. The bill also builds on work that the Minister for Justice has been undertaking in trying to establish a cohesive national approach to organised crime. The issue was discussed with the states and territories at the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council in July this year. Jurisdictions agreed to investigate and consider a cooperative scheme to support a national approach to the seizure of unexplained wealth and to establish a working group to progress the issue.

I commend the Minister for Justice. His whole focus and his whole modus operandi in this is that he wants this to be a national, cohesive approach to organised crime. This bill is a very important step in that. Obviously, with state governments and different levels of government we need the cooperation of everyone to make these things effective.

In summary, I just want to reiterate that the people who this bill is targeting are bad people. These people are peddling misery. They make a lot of money, in a lot of cases, by making people's lives unpleasant, when they have drug addictions. That is why the money that is going to be obtained from this is going to do wonderful things like provide money for crime prevention activities, like in my community with the CCTV cameras in Casino.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank members for their contributions to the debate on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014. I would like to address some of the issues that have been raised, particularly by opposition members.

In particular, a number of opposition members have erroneously claimed that this bill is almost word-for-word identical to the previous unexplained wealth bill that was introduced by Labor in 2012. That bill, which was introduced but never passed, was in this parliament for close to a year. Despite the now opposition's comments about their commitment to unexplained wealth reform, for a whole year they could not find time within their legislative program to actually deal with it.

That bill would only have implemented six of the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement—an excellent committee, a committee whose views are always worth listening to in my view. As members would be aware, they did a comprehensive inquiry into Commonwealth unexplained wealth laws. The report that they prepared has formed the basis for how we have constructed this bill. We are implementing more of the recommendations from that committee report than Labor's legislation was going to.

Despite the claim that has been made by the member for Moreton and a number of his colleagues that this bill does not go far enough, the two additional recommendations that I have referred to compared to Labor's bill will streamline affidavit requirements for preliminary unexplained wealth orders and will repeal duplicate affidavit requirements with respect to these orders, which was recommendation 8 of the parliamentary joint committee. Also, it will include a statement in the Proceeds of Crime Act's objects clause about undermining the profitability of criminal enterprise, which was the first recommendation that was made by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement.

The remaining recommendations of the committee have already been implemented, or cannot be implemented solely by changes to Commonwealth law. Essentially, we have implemented all of the recommendations that have been made by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement where we have been able to. I do congratulate that committee, which was chaired by a Labor member of parliament at the time when they produced this report, for the excellence of that report. It has provided the Commonwealth with some very worthwhile guidance, I think, for how we can frame this legislation.

Some examples of where we have not been able to implement the recommendations are recommendations 3 and 4, which relate to amendments to clarify the role of the Australian Crime Commission with respect to unexplained wealth proceedings. The government continues to consider the feasibility of these amendments but within the confines of the constitutional advice that we are getting from the Attorney-General's Department. Whilst these issues remain under consideration the Crime Commission will continue to rely on the existing provisions of the ACC Act to assist in proceeds of crime proceedings.

Recommendation 7 of the report, related to allowing the Australian Taxation Office to use information gained through telecommunications interception in the course of joint investigations by task forces prescribed under the Taxation Administration Act 1953 for the purpose of the protection of public finances. The recommendation is being considered in the context of the government's broader consideration of potential reforms to the telecommunications interception regime. As members would be aware, we are conducting a broad review of the interception of telecommunications. This particular recommendation of the committee forms part of that review.

The government will continue to consider options for implementing these remaining recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, including options to implement recommendations via regulations. It might be that we would not need to legislate again. It might be possible that we could implement some of the recommendations by regulation. But as I have previously said, this bill gives effect to the vast majority of the recommendations that have been brought down by that excellent committee.

In addition to this, the government is actively pursuing the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity recommendations regarding a national unexplained wealth law. Several opposition members also referred to the report by former police commissioners, Mr Ken Moroney and Mr Mick Palmer, into options to enhance national arrangements for unexplained wealth. Whilst the report has not been made public, it has been provided—in most cases—personally by me to all police and justice ministers around the country for their proper consideration.

The member for Moreton was right when he said that Labor was unable to break the deadlock on this issue with the states and territories. It made several attempts to convince the states to sign up to a Commonwealth-led scheme. He is right in saying that effort was made, but like so much associated with the previous Rudd and Gillard governments, even when they had a good idea, such as implementing national unexplained wealth laws, they really had no idea how to go about cooperating with the states to actually implement it. What you do not do is brief the media about what you are going to do and then brief the states afterwards—which of course is what happened in this instance. I can assure you that at our first meeting with the states and territories where we discussed this, the anger that was felt by those states and territories, including Labor run states and territories, about the way they had been treated by the previous government meant that there was absolutely no way they were going to agree to a national unexplained wealth regime while they were being treated in that way by the Commonwealth. If you are going to try and get agreement with people, the first thing that you should do is talk to them and explain what it is that you are trying to achieve and why you believe it will be good for the country. In government, Labor, for some unknown reason, refused to do this with the states and territories, and the states and territories responded appropriately by not being that cooperative. I appreciated their concerns and, as soon as the government changed, it was raised with me that the states and territories would appreciate being treated in a different way by the new government. We have certainly done that since we came to office. Indeed, this issue is going to be further discussed at the second meeting of the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council which will meet in Geelong next Friday, 3 October.

I am not going to give a running commentary on negotiations with the states, but the idea and principles behind a national unexplained wealth regime are very sound. I have been talking to both state police ministers and state justice ministers or attorneys-general. I hope that by using that approach, where we do not negotiate through the pages of the media but instead we negotiate face-to-face—I went and visited all of the ministers over the course of the past year—that we will come to a reasonable agreement with Commonwealth and states cooperating to make sure that criminals will have the money that they make through their behaviour confiscated.

The member for Moreton has noted that this bill does not contain new provisions relating to the work of the Australian Crime Commission. The amendments that were proposed by the PJCLE that relate to the Australian Crime Commission have either already being implemented or raise quite complex legal issues for consideration. The government has taken the view that the remaining measures in this bill should not be held up by the work that is going on in relation to those issues, and that we should pass the vast majority of the recommendations of the parliamentary joint committee while we are working through some of the constitutional implications that have been raised in relation to the Australian Crime Commission's role in unexplained wealth proceedings.

Recommendation 2 from the parliamentary joint committee proposed the amendment of Commonwealth legislation to allow the Crime Commission board to issue a determination on unexplained wealth to enable the ACC to use its coercive powers to provide evidence in support of unexplained wealth proceedings. This recommendation was considered, but it has been determined that the ACC can already use its coercive powers to investigate matters relating to relevant federal criminal activity. Evidence gathered by the ACC is generally available for use in unexplained wealth proceedings.

Recommendations 3 and 4 relate to amendments to clarify the role of the ACC with respect to unexplained wealth proceedings. We have considered the recommendations that were made by the committee but, as I highlighted earlier, these recommendations raise very complex legal issues and very complex constitutional issues. They require further consideration which we are progressing at the moment through the Australian Crime Commission and the Attorney-General's Department. Whilst these issues are being actively considered by the government, the ACC will continue to use its existing powers to assist in proceeds of crime proceedings.

There were many comments made by opposition members about federal law enforcement's funding position. The government was left with a very difficult situation when we came to office in relation to Commonwealth law enforcement because the previous Labor government did not support Commonwealth law enforcement agencies. They cut $120 million from the Australian Federal Police between the fiscal years 2010-11 and 2013-14. They cut $30 million and 88 staff from the Australian Crime Commission between 2007-8 and 2013-14. To put that in context for Australia's criminal intelligence agency, that is about a third of its budget and about a third of its personnel. They really crippled the ability of the Australian Crime Commission to do its job while they were in office. For six years, under Labor, this was an agency that was not supported; now that we have come to office we need to go about rectifying the damage that was done. I am pleased to say we are doing that, but the damage was very extensive and it is going to take us some time to fix. Twenty-seven million dollars and 56 staff were cut from AUSTRAC between 2009-10 and 2013-14. The record of the Labor government in relation to Commonwealth law enforcement agencies is abysmal. The role we have had since coming to government is to rectify some of that damage. I am pleased to report to the House we are doing exactly that.

We will restore the capability of federal law enforcement agencies, given the cuts they suffered under the poor budget management of the previous government. But faced with the difficult fiscal situation we are in, we need to do that gradually. We have recently allocated $77.3 million to the Australian Federal Police as part of the $630 million counter-terrorism package and that is a very significant investment in Commonwealth law enforcement. Other agencies such as the Crime Commission will get over $20 million, and AUSTRAC will get the same amount to pursue objectives under that counter-terrorism package as well.

Several members have used this bill to highlight the views regarding the government's Safer Streets program, which is funded by proceeds of crime. Again, unlike the former government, we are actually using the proceeds of crime—money we take from criminals that they have gained through their criminal activities—to fight crime. The previous government took money from proceeds-of-crime proceedings—from criminals—and they refused to spend it. They used it to prop up their dodgy budget figures. We said we were not going to stand for that and as soon as we came to government we reversed that, but it does not stop the Labor members from having the front to criticise what we are doing, which I find quite extraordinary.

We are committed to the Safer Streets program. It is an excellent program. It is an exceptionally good use of proceeds of crime money. It will fund $50 million worth of investment across the country over the course of the three years of the first Abbott government, which will assist state, territory and federal police to do their jobs. The member for Moreton—whose contribution I did not hear; I only had it reported to me by my staff—has clearly made a series of egregious errors. This does not surprise me, unfortunately. He stated in his contribution that the guidelines and eligibility criteria for the Safer Streets program are hidden. These are the secret guidelines that were raised by the shadow minister for justice. I thought I had comprehensively dealt with that allegation in the House. Not only have we published them on the internet, they actually have their own web address. If you go to a very useful site called Google and type in 'safer streets' and 'guidelines' it will be the first thing that comes up. I would advise the member for Moreton—who must not have been in the House the day the shadow minister for justice raised that particular allegation—to use 10 seconds of his time to do some research before he comes into this House and makes ludicrous claims.

I have very little time left to me, but I am very proud of this bill. This bill will make the lives of serious criminals in Australia much harder. We are implementing the recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, chaired by a Labor member at the time, the member for Fowler, who has done an excellent job in conjunction with his colleagues. I am proud of this bill and I commend it to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.