Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill now be read a second time.

Transnational serious and organised crime is destructive, pervasive and complex. In 2020-21 serious and organised crime was estimated to cost Australia up to $60.1 billion. As Australia's national criminal intelligence agency, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (the ACIC) is central to our national response to transnational serious and organised crime. The ACIC uses its collection and assessment capabilities to generate intelligence to drive disruptions, seizures and arrests by law enforcement, intelligence and international partners.

The Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Special Operations and Special Investigations) Bill 2022 amends the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 to provide greater certainty with respect to the ACIC Board's powers to authorise special operations and special investigations.

The bill does not expand or otherwise alter the powers available to the ACIC when undertaking ACIC special operations or special investigations.

Under the act, the ACIC may only use its coercive powers where the ACIC Board makes a determination for a special operation or special investigation. The board may only exercise the power to authorise special operations or special investigations when it considers that it is in the public interest to do so.

However, the existing provisions in the act include key definitions which cross-refer to other definitions that are central to the process for making determinations. This layering of definitions adds unnecessary complexity to the process in making determinations.

The proposed amendments address this issue by repealing the current definition of federally relevant criminal activity in subsection 4(1) and replacing it with a new definition of federally relevant crime. The current definition of relevant crime in subsection 4(1) is also amended. These changes reduce the multilayered definitions that currently exist which add unnecessary complexity.

The bill also makes minor consequential amendments to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010 and the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.

The measures in this bill provide that the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission can continue to exercise its powers with greater legal clarity when conducting activities to combat transnational and serious organised crime in Australia.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.