Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased this afternoon to rise to speak on the Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (State Bodies and Other Measures) Bill 2016. It is a bill which amends a series of acts—the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989, the Crimes Act 1914, the Criminal Code Act 1995, the Privacy Act 1988, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Radiocommunications Act 1992, the Surveillance Devices Act 2004, the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.

All up, although there are a number of acts that it amends, there are three basic things that this bill does. Firstly, it supports the establishment of the New South Wales Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, known as the LECC and its inspector. Secondly, it aligns the independent broad-based, anti-corruption commission in Victoria investigative powers with those available to other state anti-corruption bodies. Thirdly, it amends the Proceeds of Crime Act to clarify the definition of 'lawfully acquired' to address issues raised by the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Huang 2016 in the West Australia Supreme Court.

One thing that is important in this bill is that it talks about alignments of different policing statutes that we have. We have in this country, of course, each state with its own separate police force, its own separate set of laws and its own separate set of crime statistics. I think it is very important that we do as much as we can to get alignment across those different jurisdictions to give us a better handle on exactly what the areas of crime are that we are tackling. One example that I would like to give demonstrating the importance of alignments is some of the recent crime statistics that we have between New South Wales and Victoria. To start with, for Victoria we only have some figures for the year-to-date June 2016, while the New South Wales figures are for 24 months to the year June 2016. So they are not exactly apples for apples in timing, but they do give us somewhere to start of a reasonably similar period of time. Also, the categories of crime do not align, so where we have reporting of crime statistics, we are again not getting apples-for-apples comparisons, but we are getting something reasonably close, and this is what I think needs more alignment.

Let's firstly look at Victoria. For the year to 30 June 2016 we have seen, in Victoria, assault and related offences up by 11 per cent. We have seen robbery in that state up 14 per cent. You would think New South Wales would have similar figures. Although these are for two years, where we have seen robbery up in Victoria by 14 per cent in New South Wales robbery with a weapon is down 25.9 per cent, robbery with a firearm is down 41 per cent and robbery with a weapon not being a firearm is down 22 per cent. This is a massive discrepancy between the two states, which gives cause for a greater federal look at these issues to see why we are not getting alignment. Let's look at another statistic from Victoria. We see theft in Victoria, in the last 12 months, up an incredible 19.2 per cent. We are talking something like another 30,000 incidents of theft reported in Victoria. It is 19.2 per cent up in just 12 months.

What are the comparable figures for New South Wales? There is not a specific theft category but we do have some other categories we can look at. In New South Wales motor vehicle theft is down 12.6 per cent. Stealing from a dwelling, in New South Wales, is again down 6.6 per cent. Stealing from persons is again down 9.9 per cent. In comparison with Victoria, we have seen theft up 19 per cent.

Here is another statistic. We have seen in Victoria dangerous and negligent acts endangering people up an incredible 23 per cent. Also in Victoria are public nuisance offences up 30 per cent. This is in a 12-month period. Public transport regulations offences in Victoria are up 33.3 per cent, one-third. Yet in New South Wales we see the exact opposite. Malicious damage to property in New South Wales is down 3.2 per cent. Break and enter from a dwelling is down 7.2 per cent.

This is the reason we need to look at the individual crime statistics from our different states. We need to try and get some alignment here. The figures and the discrepancies between New South Wales and Victoria are stark and alarming. With that, I commend this bill to the House.

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