Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Criminology Research) Bill brings together the national criminal intelligence, analysis and research capabilities of two of Australia's leading law and justice agencies, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC).

The government sees great opportunity in combining the resources of the AIC and the ACC to provide Australian law enforcement agencies with central access to a consolidated and comprehensive criminal research and intelligence resource.

Having a unified resource of this type would significantly enhance support for law enforcement and bolster Australia's response to serious and organised crime.

It would also allow police, justice agencies and policymakers at all levels of government to adopt a more effective, efficient and evidence-based response to crime.

Implementation model

Following a merger, the AIC will form a new research branch of the ACC—the Australian Crime and Justice Research Centre—headed by a research specialist.

The Australian Crime and Justice Research Centre will move from carrying out largely self-directed research (as the AIC currently does) to doing work primarily for the ACC, with far greater access to classified information.

This is expected to increase the value and relevance of AIC research. It will provide an enhanced evidence base to support a proactive and targeted response to crime by all Australian law enforcement agencies.

The Australian Crime and Justice Research Centre will also continue to carry out national monitoring programs, such as the national deaths in custody program and the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia project, and will continue to carry out commissioned research on a fee-for-service basis. The Australian Crime and Justice Research Centre should also continue to have access to the same data sets as the AIC currently does.

Key measures

The bill contains a number of measures that would give effect to these proposed arrangements for the merged agency.

Primarily, this bill amends the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002(ACC Act)to enable the ACC to carry out the AIC's research work. This includes conducting criminology research, sharing that research and other resources, such as the JV Barry library, with the private sector and the public, and holding seminars and conferences on important criminology research issues.

The bill also amends the ACC Act to ensure that the ACC is able to charge for commissioned research, as the AIC currently does, with charges paid into the Criminology Research Special Account. This will enable states, territories, universities and other interested organisations to continue to commission specific work from the merged agency, as they currently do from the AIC.

The bill also repeals the Criminology Research Act 1971 to abolish the AIC as an independent statutory agency. As the position of the AIC director will not be required post-merger, the provisions dealing with this position are not replicated in the ACC Act.

Criminology Research Advisory Council

This bill does not create a legislated role for the Criminology Research Advisory Council. This was a body formed to advise the AIC director on a number of strategic issues, including the AIC's research priorities.

Following a merger, the ACC board will become responsible for determining the ACC's high-level research priorities. However, in setting these priorities the ACC board may take advice from a non-legislated advisory body, comprising representatives from state and territory justice and law enforcement agencies.

This will ensure that state and territory justice agencies continue to play an important role in shaping the future direction of the merged agency's criminological research program.

Conclusion

This bill implements an important consolidation of Australia's criminal research and intelligence capabilities. With the merger of the AIC into the ACC, the ACC will be better able to fulfil its role as Australia's national criminal intelligence agency, supporting and informing the efforts of law enforcement agencies around Australia.

Similarly, the new Australian Crime and Justice Research Centre in the ACC will continue to prepare and disseminate world-leading criminological research which informs our understanding of the trends and developments in crime and justice.

Debate adjourned.

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