Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015. This bill is a significant piece of legislation in the fight against crime. It includes improvements to the operation and effectiveness of the serious drug and precursor offences of the Criminal Code Act 1995 and seeks to introduce a mandatory minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment for firearms trafficking. It is these two key parts of this bill, along with the changes to forced marriages, that I wish to focus on today.

The bill delivers on this government strong stance against unlawful firearms and illegal drugs. These serious threats to Australia are intricately linked together. As the member for McPherson on the Southern Gold Coast, I can say that we have had our fair share of both in recent years. Organised crime is at the heart of the crimes that we are looking to tackle in this bill. The United Nations states:

Organised crime threatens peace and human security; it violates human rights and undermines economic, social, cultural, political and civil development of societies around the world.

It is well recognised through research that organised crime has diversified, moved globally and reached national levels. This global reach means illicit goods may now be sourced from one country or continent, trafficked across another and marketed in a third, perhaps halfway around the world. In developing nations, organised crime is undermining governance and democracy by empowering those who operate outside the law.

Research also tells us that organised crime is not static. It adapts well as new crimes emerge and as relationships between criminal networks become both more flexible and more sophisticated. According to research from our own Parliamentary Library, transnational organised crime has been estimated to generate US$870 billion each year globally. Illicit drugs alone account for around half of the total, with significant funds also derived from trafficking in persons, firearms, natural resources and wildlife, people-smuggling, counterfeit goods and cybercrime. I would like to especially acknowledge the hard work of both the Federal Police and the Queensland Police in recent years who have done an excellent job at cracking down on organised crime on the Gold Coast.

I will now turn to schedule 1 of the bill. Under schedule 1, the changes proposed remove the requirement to prove intent to manufacture when it comes to the importation of precursor drugs that are used to make dangerous drugs like ice. The importation of the likes of pseudoephedrine, which is the main ingredient for ice, and other amphetamine-based drugs has been on the increase. Furthermore, as outlined in the explanatory note, we have had some success at closing down the redirection of precursor drugs, and the changes in this bill will strengthen our response at the border.

Everyone in this House would agree that ice has become a very worrying drug. For us on the Gold Coast, the distribution of ice linked directly to dangerous organised crime groups has been devastating to local families. I would like to acknowledge at this point the work of a local organisation in my electorate, Lives Lived Well, who are helping individuals and their families battling drug addiction every day. This organisation has seen bed occupancy for in-patient rehabilitation go from 87 per cent three years ago to 95 per cent this year. In 2015 alone they have had 286 people go through their 40-bed facility in my electorate, up from 193 two years ago. Ice is the third-highest reason for admission behind alcohol and cannabis. The staff at Lives Lived Well have seen firsthand the damaging effects ice can have on peoples' lives as well as on the community. It is a problem in our cities and it is a problem in our regional towns and centres.

The Australian Crime Commission considers ice to be the highest risk of all illicit drugs in our community, with ice use almost doubling in the last 12 months. More and more Australians are touched by the ice epidemic every day. That is why I was so pleased when the Prime Minister announced the National Ice Action Strategy to tackle the growing scourge of ice—crystal methamphetamine. We know that work is already underway. The Assistant Minister for Health, Fiona Nash, and the Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, are overseeing the task force and taking the lead in the government's response to the ice issue. I support schedule 1 of this bill, which further strengthens our response to the ice issue.

As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science, I also need to put on record the great work being done by the National Measurement Institute to assist in the fight against drug crime. NMI's cutting-edge science is playing a central role in the Australian government's law enforcement response to illegal drug trafficking. As criminal methods of producing, importing and trafficking drugs become more sophisticated, law enforcement agencies need to draw on the strategic intelligence provided by science, particularly scientific testing and measurement.

The Australian Forensic Drugs Laboratory at the National Measurement Institute provides just this intelligence. The world class chemists at the National Measurement Institute provide intelligence on the geographical origins of seized cocaine or heroin, and the precursor ingredients of methamphetamines and other designer drugs. The results of this work help law enforcement agencies to disrupt drug trafficking, and this ultimately contributes to saving lives and reducing crime. It is these scientists who are helping to stay one step ahead of the criminals, and I want to say thank you for the work they are doing.

I now turn to schedule 6 of the bill and the changes to penalties for the importation of firearms. We know that the threat of unlawful firearms being trafficked into Australia is real. The Australian Institute of Criminology reported in 2012:

There are three primary firearm markets in Australia. The licit market comprises all firearms that are subject to registration and held by a person with the approved authority to do so. The grey market consists of all long-arms that were not registered, or surrendered as required during the gun buybacks, following the National Firearms Agreement (1996). Grey market firearms are not owned, used or conveyed for criminal purposes but may end up in the illicit market. Illicit market firearms are those that were illegally imported into or illegally manufactured in Australia, diverted from the licit market or moved from the grey market.

The Institute of Criminology concluded in that same report:

Overall, the trafficking network is not considered to be overly organised in structure, but largely dominated by serious and organised criminal entities (such as outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs)) who traffic illicit firearms as a side venture and smaller operators, who move firearms around by word of mouth …

It is fair to say that the one constant in all the research is organised criminal groups. Whether loosely connected or through more elaborate international rings, they are the poison holding the movement of unlawful firearms together. That is why I think it so important that government send a clear message on offences like firearm trafficking. Our message is clear: as a society we will not tolerate this, and if you are caught you can expect to spend a minimum of five years imprisonment. This is exactly what the bill proposes, and it is a proportionate punishment to this insidious crime.

Research tells us that even the entry of a small number of illegal firearms into the Australian community can have a significant impact on the threat posed by the illicit market. This is due to the enduring nature of firearms, as a firearm can remain within that market for many years. In the lead-up to the 2013 election, the coalition undertook to implement tougher penalties for gun-related crime. This bill represents a government implementing its election commitment. The offences preserve a level of judicial discretion to allow courts to take into account mitigating factors when setting the period offenders spend in custody. These are important safeguards to have in place when we are dealing with mandatory sentencing.

Finally, the bill also introduces tough new penalties for forced marriages. I know that the serious crime of forced marriage of a child or a person with a disability is particularly relevant at present. These amendments deliver greater protection to children and to vulnerable people. One only has to look at recent media on the issue to see that across the country, in particular in parts of western Sydney, this crime is very real, and these changes add further protection for possible victims and serve as a serious deterrent.

In concluding, this bill delivers on our key election commitment to tackle the serious crimes related to drugs and firearms, strengthens our stance against forced marriage and sends a clear message that we will not bow to organised crime in this country. I commend the bill to the House.

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