Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also wish to speak on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015. As a former police officer with a background in counter-terrorism and organised crime, this bill is incredibly important to me, as well as to currently serving law enforcement officers. This bill seeks to address the gaps which we currently have in crimes legislation. There are always going to be gaps, but this will go towards filling some of those regarding firearms trafficking and border control.

Firstly, I should note that the coalition made an election commitment to tackle crime and here we are following through on that. The central parts of that commitment include the establishment of a local anti-gangs squad to tackle organised bikie gangs. I was very proud to be the author of that document when I was shadow parliamentary secretary for law enforcement. This came about by simply having discussions with the FBI in America and its counterparts at the local level. We found out that you need a joint approach—the same applies in the UK and Italy—where the states must work with the Federal Police to get the job done. It is the best way forward and we have proven that with our commitment.

We also need to reduce the number of illegal guns floating into the streets, with a $100-million boost to Customs screening. The bill introduces a five-year mandatory jail sentence for those caught bringing illegal firearms into Australia. I know the opposition is not keen to support this, but there are guns all over the streets in Melbourne at the moment, so the penalties in place currently are not working and a new approach is required. Advocating for nationally consistent penalties for serious firearm offences brings police and law-makers closer by encouraging roundtable discussions. Again, this is part of the anti-gangs squad platform: bringing all those working on this together. There is provision of $50 million for closed-circuit TV to deter criminal activity and it will pursue zero tolerance of corruption in Customs.

We are following through this commitment by, firstly, cracking down on trafficking. This means boosting border security with a $100-million boost to Customs to increase the rate of cargo consignment and package screenings at Australian borders, reducing the influence of criminals at ports and airports. Criminals definitely make their way to ports and airports. We need to tighten processing for the issuing of security clearances to people who work on wharves. That is so important. No longer do we want to see organised crime figures and people with serious criminal records working on wharves in Australia. We need to undertake a study about the use of automatic number plate recognition systems at all airports. (Time expired)

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