David Feeney (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Criminology Research) Bill 2015. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002, the ACC Act, and repeal the Criminology Research Act 1971, the CR Act, in order to merge the Australian Institute of Criminology into the Australian Crime Commission. The bill comprises two schedules. Schedule 1 makes amendments to the ACC Act. The purposes of those amendments in this schedule are to enable the merged agency to: continue to carry out the Australian Institute of Criminology's research work; share criminological research and information with any person, including the private sector; and, thirdly, carry out commissioned research. Schedule 2 repeals the Criminology Research Act to abolish the AIC as a statutory agency.

The Australian Institute of Criminology, the AIC, was established in 1973 under the CR Act. As a Commonwealth statutory authority, the AIC is regulated under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. Staff of the AIC are generally engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 but may also be employed or engaged by the AIC for a particular project. According to the AIC 2013-14 annual report:

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has served as Australia’s national research and knowledge centre on crime and justice for more than 40 years, undertaking and promulgating new research, monitoring and analysing crime trends, and providing advice to inform legislative, policy and practice change.

The independent status of the AIC has meant its output is not only robust, but trusted by government, law enforcement and justice agencies across the nation and internationally. Much of the AIC’s work falls under the Commonwealth government’s strategic research priorities, in particular, the priority themes of ‘living in a changing environment’, ‘promoting population health and wellbeing’ and ‘securing Australia’s place in a changing world’.

A Criminology Research Advisory Council, established under the CR Act in 2011, advises the director of the AIC on strategic research priorities, communications and on the Criminology Research Grants program. The advisory council consists of nine members who represent the Australian government and all states and territories. This composition ensures that areas targeted for research funding reflect both national and state and territory priorities. The Criminology Research Grants program managed by the AIC is funded by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments. The director of the AIC approves a series of research grants each year, taking into account the recommendations of the Criminology Research Advisory Council. The program funds research that has relevance to jurisdictional policy in the areas of law, police, judiciary, corrections, mental health, social welfare, education and related fields.

The Australian Crime Commission commenced operation on 1 January 2003. It has its origins in the April 2002 Council of Australian Government Leaders Summit, which agreed that a new national framework was needed to meet the challenges of multi-jurisdictional crime. It replaced and combined the strategic and operational intelligence and specialist investigative capabilities of the National Crime Authority, the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, and the Office of Strategic Crime Assessments. According to its latest annual report, the aim of the ACC is to reduce 'serious and organised crime threats of most harm to Australians and the national interest'.

To achieve this aim, the ACC has a range of special coercive powers such as the capacity to compel: attendance at examinations; the production of documents; and the answering of questions—similar to a royal commission. The ACC also has an intelligence-gathering capacity and a range of investigative powers common to law enforcement agencies, such as the power to tap phones, use surveillance devices and participate in controlled operations. Like the AIC, the ACC is regulated under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act and staff of the ACC are engaged under the Public Service Act. With that background, the 2014 Commission of Audit announced by the Abbott government and released in February 2014 made a number of recommendations, including that, `Consolidated crime intelligence capability would also better support law enforcement operations.'

The Commission of Audit did not suggest the possibility of the AIC merging with the ACC but proposed that consideration be given to moving the AIC to a university. Prior to the 2015 budget, there was media speculation that the two bodies, the AIC and the ACC, would merge. At that time, I wrote to the minister requesting a briefing. However, the minister noted that government was yet to make a decision regarding the proposed merger and so would not be offering a briefing at that time.

Following the 2015 budget, the Minister for Justice announced the appointment of ACC CEO Chris Dawson as the newly appointed interim director of the AIC. At that time, Minister Keenan indicated that the government was considering whether the AIC should be placed within the ACC, but at that date a final decision had not been made. The minister said:

In the interim, the ACC and AIC will continue to exist and operate as separate entities, while working together on expanding existing relationships.

Finally, on 25 September 2015, the minister announced that the AIC would be placed within the ACC to 'boost research capability at the nation's criminal intelligence agency'. The AIC is to be incorporated into the ACC as an independent research branch known as the Crime and Justice Research Centre, CJRC. The minister stressed that the merger is 'not about cutting costs or personnel of either agency; it's about creating a unified workforce incorporating staff of both agencies'.

The minister has stated that this merger brings together Australia's national criminal intelligence and research capabilities under one banner and that having a unified resource of this type will enrich our national understanding of criminal activity, including serious and organised crime and terrorism, allowing police, justice agencies and policy makers at all levels of government to adopt a more effective, efficient and evidence-based response to crime. Under the proposed merger, the AIC will carry its research functions over to the ACC, including its ability to undertake commissioned research, and the AIC's corporate functions will be merged with those of the ACC. The position of AIC Director will be abolished.

We have received some correspondence from various stakeholders raising concerns about the proposed merger. We have been briefed by the Attorney-General's Department regarding these concerns which have, for the most part, been satisfied.

Labor have been given an undertaking that this bill is not about savings measures and we will continue to support the strong and independent research capability that is vested in the Australian Institute of Criminology and will be known as the Crime and Justice Research Centre. The government will be held to account on its commitment that the merger will not result in job losses or erosion in employment standards for former AIC employees.

It is critical that the CJRC continues to be able to provide a strong and independent research capability that can be relied upon by law enforcement agencies across state and federal jurisdictions. This is why Labor has secured an assurance from the Minister for Justice that the CJRC will have the same access to the datasets currently used by the AIC. Further, Labor has secured an assurance that the CJRC will continue to operate an open access library at the JV Barry Library, which is a vital and well-respected resource for academics and criminologists in Australia and beyond.

Finally, Mr Speaker, to ensure proper scrutiny of this merger, Labor will be referring this bill to the Senate Legislation Committee for Legal and Constitutional Affairs. There we look forward to having these issues tested on a more forensic basis and we want to ensure that the priorities of the AIC will not be lost or subsumed in the merger. We will carefully consider the views expressed to the committee and the final committee report when it is released. I thank the House.

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