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

The Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Powers) Bill 2015 will ensure that the Australian Crime Commission and the Integrity Commissioner have the powers they need to combat serious and organised crime, foreign fighters and law enforcement corruption. The bill will place the existing powers and practices of the Australian Crime Commission and Integrity Commissioner on a stronger legislative footing. It will also clarify that the Australian Crime Commission Act allows the Crime Commission to examine people who have been charged with an offence. The bill will also improve the safeguards in the Australian Crime Commission Act and Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act to protect the fair trial of any person questioned, making them clearer and stronger.

The member for Batman and the member for Fowler provided a very useful summary of the bill and the issues it seeks to address. The measures in the bill are critical to support the efforts of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to combat serious and organised crime, terrorism and corruption. I thank those members and the opposition for their support for this important piece of legislation. I would particularly like to thank the members for Dobell and Swan for their useful contribution and support of the bill.

This bill confirms the powers of the Crime Commission and the Integrity Commissioner. It does not expand them. While these are significant powers, they are necessary to counter the growing threat of organised crime, terrorism and law enforcement corruption. The individuals and groups involved in these activities are increasingly sophisticated, they adapt very quickly and they are expanding their operations into new markets. Traditional policing methods are an important part of disrupting and dismantling organised crime syndicates. They are also important in catching the corrupt law enforcement officers that enable organised crime to gain a foothold.

However, these methods are not enough on their own. To catch the cartel kingpins and to root out corruption, our police must be supported by information obtained from the questioning powers—the extraordinary powers—of the Crime Commission and the Integrity Commissioner. This bill will make those powers clearer. It will put the collaboration of the Crime Commission and the Integrity Commissioner with their partners on a stronger footing, and it does so in a way that strengthens the mechanisms that protect the fundamental principles of our criminal justice system about the right to a fair trial. The amendments made by this bill are important in ensuring that law enforcement agencies can obtain timely and relevant information and that they can act on it to protect the Australian community. With that, I thank the House for its support of this very important legislative measure and I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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