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

I rise to speak on the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Amendment Bill 2014—

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's a mouthful.

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

it is a mouthful—and a related bill. AUSTRAC's strategic direction statement, as outlined in the 2014-15 budget, states:

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing … regulator and specialist financial intelligence unit.

AUSTRAC's vision is an Australian community that is hostile to money laundering, financing of terrorism, serious and organised crime, including people smuggling, and tax evasion.

Under its regulatory role, AUSTRAC oversees compliance with reporting obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 … and the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 for approximately 16,000 businesses across diverse industry sectors which include financial services providers, the gaming industry and remittance service providers. As Australia's financial intelligence unit, AUSTRAC collects and analyses financial information provided by regulated entities to assist Australian law enforcement, national security, social justice and revenue agencies, and certain international counterparts, in the investigation and prosecution of serious criminal activity, including terrorism financing, organised crime and tax evasion.

In 2013–14, AUSTRAC will continue to improve and supplement its systems to enhance all aspects of its dealings with its diverse regulated population. AUSTRAC will also continue to provide guidance to regulated entities on their obligations.

The rapid development of technology and the increasing availability of that technology to users throughout the world have significantly increased the dynamics, the profile and the reach of organised crime. In such a global environment, AUSTRAC is a vital agency—an anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing regulator and specialist intelligence unit which works with Australian industries and business to provide information about potential criminal activity to our law enforcement agencies. It is at the forefront of the fight against transnational organised crime. Organised crime, as we know, is a significant national security threat and it is a growing challenge. Australian law enforcement agencies have a fine record of working in partnership together to prevent, disrupt or investigate and prosecute organised crime in all of its forms. Former Labor governments have been committed to fight and deter organised crime and we will continue to do that zealously from opposition.

In 2011, the former Labor government established a legislative structure that allowed AUSTRAC to reclaim the costs of its regulatory functions from the businesses that it regulates. The Abbott government has announced as part of the 2014-15 budget that it will now increase the AUSTRAC supervisory levy. The AUSTRAC supervisory levy is an annual charge on reporting entities to pay for the costs of AUSTRAC's regulation.

This bill will be supported by the opposition, but we will support it while drawing attention to the fact that Minister Keenan and the government in doing this are breaking another promise. In opposition, Minister Keenan said:

What we see with these bills is a lazy piece of policy making …

He said:

… this is still poor policy-making.

Minister Keenan said:

It is not reasonable for the government to recoup the costs of running every government agency if that government agency is providing a public service rather than providing direct services to the people who are being asked to pay for them.

Again, Minister Keenan said on 30 May 2011:

AUSTRAC does provide a very valuable service but we believe that it is not reasonable to come back and to ask the 199 largest users to cover the costs of its running, particularly when really this is all about filling the budget black hole that Labor have created for themselves from their enormous wasteful spending up to this point.

So we saw Minister Keenan, in opposition, denouncing Labor's moves to engage in some cost recovery, declaring, pursuant to his own impending Battlelines policy principles, that it was an error in public policy to do this. Now, of course—saying one thing in opposition and doing the exact opposite in government—we have that happening in this bill. In this bill, the very gentleman who condemned Labor for putting a levy on 199 businesses is now proposing to put one on over 1,000 businesses. In government, Minister Keenan has failed to keep faith with his rhetoric in opposition—again and again and again. The irony is that, having lambasted Labor in 2011, he must now eat his words. Minister Keenan has introduced total cost recovery and, as I say, another broken promise.

Minister Keenan criticised Labor's Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Bill 2011, attributing it to failed economic management, but now he has failed his own test, introducing legislation into this House to increase the levy—to increase the number of entities that pay it by more than fivefold. Minister Keenan has yet again proven that his actions and words in opposition are inconsistent with his actions and words in government. In opposition, Minister Keenan was always eager to condemn the Labor government and, again and again, has been forced from government to not only move legislation written by Labor, embrace decisions made by Labor and support initiatives developed by Labor from office but, here, directly contradict his own actions in opposition.

In fact, it is fair to say that, while we support this bill, we do enjoy the fact that, having said one thing in opposition and done another in government, and having by his own measures and his own tests now failed to properly regulate this area, the minister will now rise to his feet in a few moments and, no doubt, eat a lot of humble pie as he announces to Australia at large and the parliament in particular that this is now a further impost on the cost of doing business in Australia.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Red tape.

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

It is another layer of red tape for Australian businesses to endure. It is yet another flight of fancy which throws the recent effort of Red Tape Day to the four winds as we watch Minister Keenan now get up and talk about how Labor did a fine thing in 2011 but by his own standards plainly did not go far enough, because a levy for 199 businesses was as nothing for Minister Keenan! He now looks forward to a levy being paid by more than 1,000 businesses. Perhaps in his concluding remarks Minister Keenan can describe his journey to Damascus, his Damascene moment when he realised that Labor's management in this area was superb, when he realised that our public policy principles were first class, when he realised that our bill was something that he could build upon, when he realised that in fact he had been wrong in opposition and now looked forward to recanting those empty words from 2011 and embracing the Labor way!

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise following the contribution of the member for Batman. Sadly, what he was saying was true in parts but erroneous in others. Unfortunately, we have been left the most enormous mess by the previous government. As so often happens, it falls to the Liberal Party and our Nationals colleagues to come into government and to fix up the mess that has been created by the Labor Party in government. Six years of unrestrained spending and an inability to provide a vision for the future and then follow through with any sort of cogent policy—even good ideas where they could completely mess up the implementation—six years of chaos, and now we have to be the ones who come in and sort it out.

Sadly, that means that we need to make decisions that we would not normally make. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy (Collection) Amendment Bill 2014 is one of them. We would not normally have to move to a situation where we would need 100 per cent cost recovery from an agent like AUSTRAC. Unfortunately, the circumstances which we have inherited have left the government with no decision but to make difficult decisions, and this is one of those decisions.

As has been noted in this rather brief debate, AUSTRAC is vitally important instrumentality for the government. It is our counter-terrorism-financing body and our anti-money-laundering body. We have been reminded today by events in Melbourne that the importance of AUSTRAC is vital. It does need to protect our community by making sure Australians are not supporting terrorists. If you are financing terrorists, you are directly contributing to the atrocities that they are committing. We take the dimmest possible view of Australians engaging in that sort of conflict, and the penalties for doing so can include life imprisonment. It is a very grave crime. AUSTRAC is the agency that in conjunction with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies is responsible for policing it.

There is not a lot further that I could add. This bill, in conjunction with the primary bill, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Amendment Bill 2014, transitions AUSTRAC from its current cost-recovery arrangements to a model that enables an industry contribution to AUSTRAC's dual role as Australia's anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing regulator and financial intelligence unit. The bill sets out a number of operational arrangements necessary to administer the industry contribution. It also sets out the requirement for an independent review of the operation of the industry contribution after the fourth anniversary of commencement. This will ensure that the operation of the levy is appropriately evaluated in close consultation with industry. This bill together with the primary bill will ensure that AUSTRAC continues to provide a regulatory and intelligence environment that maintains community confidence in financial flows and minimises the risk to businesses of exploitation for money laundering or terrorism financing.

As I indicated in my opening remarks, it does not give me a lot of pleasure to be dealing with this bill in the House today. Sadly, this is one of the many decisions that the grown-ups in the room need to make as we have come into government. We are faced with the enormous mess that the Labor Party left us This is one of the bills that deals with fixing up that mess, and I therefore commend it to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.