Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The role of Attorney-General is never-ending, and we're fortunate on our side of politics to have produced some of the nation's best. HV Evatt and Gareth Evans come to mind, and to that company I'm sure we can add the current Attorney-General. But the demands of the job are constant. New issues are always emerging, with the result being that existing legislation always needs to be updated, tailored and amended.

With this in mind, I commend the Attorney-General for bringing this legislation, the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2024, before the House today. It updates existing legislation to address the way modern criminals conduct their business and also includes provisions that will deter them from undertaking similar activities in the future. The bill makes a number of amendments to certain crime related provisions in several Commonwealth acts. These acts include the Crimes Act 1914, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the Criminal Code Act 1995. The end result of all these amendments will be that certain legislative provisions administered by the Attorney-General will be improved and clarified. Further, the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate criminal activity relating to digital currency exchanges will be improved.

Schedule 1 of the bill relates to the seizing of digital assets under warrant. The means by which criminals conduct their business is always evolving. The days of hiding behind a large rock with a posse and arms waiting for a stagecoach to pass are long gone. Nowadays, with the advent of the digital economy, criminal activity often includes digital assets, especially cryptocurrency. Criminal activity involving digital access includes the purchase of drugs, child exploitation material and firearms through the dark web, ransomware, cyber related offences, money laundering and financing terrorist organisations. Therefore, it is essential that law enforcement agencies have appropriate tools and mechanisms to address the emerging issues. This bill does that by amending the Crimes Act 1914 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to ensure that the powers available to law enforcement to seize digital assets under a warrant reflect the operating environment. In doing so, this amendment will ensure that criminals are deprived of the benefits of their crime and may be deterred from future criminal activity.

Schedule 2 refers to extending the current investigative and freezing powers that cover financial institutions to digital currency exchanges. In many respects, this relates to schedule 1, as the way in which criminal activities are undertaken has changed. As a consequence, the responses from law enforcement also need to change. The bill before us, through schedule 2, amends the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to expand the definition of a financial institution to include digital currency exchanges. These amendments will ensure that freezing orders, notices to financial institutions and monitoring orders can be made in relation to accounts held in digital currency exchanges. Again, the aim is clear: by allowing law enforcement to freeze relevant accounts before any restraint action can be undertaken, criminals will be unable to move or dissipate their proceeds to other activities.

Schedule 3 amends the Crimes Act 1914 to increase the value of a penalty for Commonwealth offences for $313 to $330. Maintaining the value of the penalty unit is necessary to ensure that penalties for the Commonwealth offences keep pace with community expectations. It is necessary that penalties act as the deterrent they are meant to be. Raising the amount that is charged will ensure the consequence meets the offence. On this matter, I note the last ad hoc increase was January 2022, and in that time the cost of living in Australia has risen by 9.38 per cent.

Schedule 4 clarifies the functions of the Communications Access Coordinator in the Attorney-General's department and creates a new Communications Security Coordinator position in the Department of Home Affairs. The latter reform will, as a result, remove a significant administrative burden by removing the Communications Access Coordinator functions currently administered by the Department of Home Affairs into that department.

Schedule 5 of the matter before us will expand the ability of the state and territory integrity agencies to share interception information and interception warrant information with oversight bodies. These amendments will apply to the New South Wales ICAC, the New South Wales Inspector of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, South Australia's inspector of the ICAC, the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission in Western Australia and the Victorian Inspectorate. The amendments accurately reflect developments occurring in the state and territory oversight and integrity space and enable oversight bodies to properly scrutinise and audit interception activities and compliance with the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 and fulfil their statutory functions through access to the interception of information and the interception of warrant information.

I have spoken in the past about cybercrime and scams. Those intent on criminal and nefarious activities are clever. They're always scheming and planning new ways to do their business. While as individuals we may not be the direct victims of their crime, others are, and our community as a whole therefore loses. The bill before us updates important aspects of our legislative framework for addressing these new types of crime. I commend them to the House.

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