Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014. And I too, as a former police officer, am very pleased to be speaking on this bill. I know how welcome these reforms are. May I echo the words of the previous speaker, the member for Cowan, who is also a former police officer: I understand some of the sentiments that he expressed about how welcome these improvements are.

Can I also take this opportunity to commend our police forces, not only our federal but also our state and territory police forces right across the country. I acknowledge the remarkable work that they do in often very difficult and challenging situations. I remind the House that next Monday is National Police Remembrance Day, and an opportunity to remember those police officers who have lost their lives in serving our community. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge them and to commend our forces for the remarkable work that they do.

Investigating unexplained wealth is a very powerful tool against organised crime. We have heard many speakers in this debate detail reasons for that. For far too long, we have all seen the devastating effects that organised crime and criminals can have upon our communities right throughout this country. I know there is frustration felt by police officers if they do not have the powers or resources to effectively investigate, particularly in the case of those who have profited from criminal activities. That is why legislation like this is incredibly important in disrupting or stopping organised crime. It is a very vital asset to have this legislation in place. That is why it was that, in 2013, the Labor government initially moved to tackle criminals where it really hurts: the proceeds of their crimes. It really goes to the heart of their criminal activities because, of course, it is money that keeps their business model operational. It is very appropriate that the coalition has wisely adopted this proposed legislation that we are debating before the House today.

This bill, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014, is to specifically to amend the Proceeds Of Crime Act to strengthen the Commonwealth regulation of unexplained wealth, and to improve the investigation and litigation of unexplained wealth matters. Indeed, it reflects the recommendations made by the parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement. Schedule 1 of this bill contains amendments that will amend the Proceeds Of Crime Act, and implement eight of the 18 recommendations set down by the parliamentary Joint Committee On Law Enforcement. These relate, firstly, to including a statement in the objects clause about undermining the profitability of criminal enterprises, and ensuring that evidence that is relevant to unexplained wealth proceedings can in fact be seized under a search warrant—a very important part of this. It will also streamline affidavit requirements for preliminary unexplained wealth orders. And this will also act to allow the time limit for serving notices of application for certain unexplained wealth orders to be extended by a court, in appropriate circumstances. It will also harmonise legal expenses and legal aid for unexplained wealth cases for other Proceeds Of Crime Act proceedings, so as to prevent restrained assets being used to meet legal expenses, which I think is a particularly good move—that those assets cannot be used to pay for legal fees on those occasions. The changes that are put forward in this bill will also allow charges to be created over restrained property to secure payment of unexplained wealth orders, as can occur with other types of proceeds of crime orders. It will also remove a court's discretion to make unexplained wealth restraining orders, preliminary unexplained wealth orders, and unexplained wealth orders, once relevant criteria are satisfied.

Finally, the bill will require the AFP Commissioner to provide a report annually to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement on unexplained wealth matters and litigation, and will also empower the committee to seek further information from federal agencies in relation to such a report. In addition, schedule 1 of the bill will amend the Proceeds of Crime Act, for which information obtained under the act can be shared with a state, territory or foreign authority to include proceeds of crime purpose. I believe this is a very important element of this bill. The purpose of these amendments is to enhance information sharing with appropriate state, territory and indeed foreign authorities. Proceeds of crime investigations and litigations increasingly involve transnational elements, due to the very international nature of serious and organised crime. In order to effectively pursue the proceeds of crime offshore and to assist our foreign counterparts in doing so, it is essential that the AFP has the ability to share information for such purposes. This is especially so due to the increasingly complex and growing nature of serious and organised crime across borders and across countries, so it is very important to have that element of being able to share that information.

As a former police officer I definitely know how welcome these reforms are. Investigating unexplained wealth is a really powerful tool that can be used against organised crime. Laws regulating what is known as unexplained wealth allow the courts to issue an order to compel individuals to attend court and to demonstrate that, on the balance of probability, their wealth was lawfully obtained—so the onus is upon them. They are designed to zero in on the wealth of usually senior organised crime figures who tend to profit from crime without actually being directly involved—they are beneficiaries of illegal activities. This bill will make it harder for criminals to profit from their illegal activities—make no mistake about it, it will definitely do that. It will be effective in that sense. The bill will also assist in ensuring the safety of so many people and so many communities right across the country. I know that in my electorate of Richmond on the north coast of New South Wales, like in other areas, people are genuinely concerned about organised crime elements. They are very keen to see any effective measures that would act to stop any growth in organised crime and would help with any policing resources and investigative tools that are in place.

With these welcome reforms it is important to note that it was the previous Labor government that led the way on prosecuting unexplained wealth and on tackling the scourge of organised crime. In fact, it was the Labor government in 2010 who first recognised that our law enforcement agencies required additional tools to really disrupt and unsettle the organised crime syndicates and their illegal and widespread operations. This action was achieved through the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious and Organised Crime) Act 2010, which introduced provisions for the making of unexplained wealth orders into the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. However, due to the need for a connection with a constitutional head of power, the wealth order's applicability was limited to circumstances where a connection could be established to a Commonwealth or a foreign offence, or a state offence with a Commonwealth aspect.

This constitutional limitation hampered the effectiveness of the proceeds of crime provisions, and in March 2012 it was recommended that the Commonwealth seek a referral of powers from state governments in order to legislate for a broader-based, national unexplained wealth scheme. Back in June 2013, former police commissioners Mick Palmer and Ken Moroney were appointed by the previous justice minister when Labor was in government, the member for Blaxland, to negotiate with the states, territories and other authorities to have them involved. Although it was reported by the ABC in October 2013 that Mr Palmer and Mr Moroney were due to report to the government within weeks, we are not quite certain what recommendations they have made and what the exact status of that report is. We certainly strongly encourage some good outcomes there, and encourage them to work closely with the Commonwealth as well, because it is only by working together on these particular aspects that we can be successful in pursuing these investigations.

Given the statutory limitations, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement decided in 2012 to reassess the effectiveness of the bill, and initiated an inquiry to explore a number of changes that were needed to strengthen the legislation. As mentioned earlier, in 2013 18 recommendations were handed down by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement—eight of which were adopted. From these recommendations came Labor's Crime Legislation Amendment (Organised Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2012, which passed through this House in February 2013 but lapsed in the Senate at the end of the last parliament. The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014 is essentially identical in nature to Labor's lapsed legislation and implements Labor's commitments of February 2013 in the government response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, which of course is why we are so supportive of this legislation.

You can see that it was the Labor government's initiative to really come down hard on criminals and their organisations and the profits that they make illegally. It is unfortunate, when we look at the history of this, that, when we put this first round of legislation there, there was some criticism from the coalition at the time. I know that the now Minister for Justice, Minister Keenan, who was on the opposition benches at the time, made remarks about Labor not embracing the recommendations of the committee which involved the Australian Crime Commission pursuing unexplained wealth orders. It was unfortunate there was some criticism then. However, in opposition Labor continues to uphold our commitments to a very bipartisan approach to this, and believe that we have to be working together to put pressure on organised crime and the unexplained proceeds of their activities. That is why we offer our full support for this bill—after all, we essentially wrote it, and it is identical to legislation put before the House in the previous parliament. I certainly look forward to this government working effectively with the states and territories to make sure we can implement concrete laws to combat organised crime and its illegal proceeds.

It is for all of those reasons that Labor supports this bill and supports moves to effectively tackle organised crime syndicates and to work effectively in terms of sharing that information. That is vitally important with the very complex, changing and involved nature of organised crime, and it is measures such as this that will effectively make major differences. I commend the bill to the House.

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