Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

The government opposes these three amendments. Basically we see the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission as having a distinctly different function to the proposed committee which would oversee ACLEI. ACLEI is a body which would have purview over the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission and in the future other Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, as I have foreshadowed.

The parliamentary joint committee was set up just for the Australian Crime Commission; it was not set up for this task. Therefore its role is quite different. It is overseeing the Australian Crime Commission. It would still deal with allegations of corruption brought against the Australian Crime Commission. But that is all in relation to the Australian Crime Commission. We believe that ACLEI could have expanded jurisdiction—and no doubt will—and should have its own committee of review to do it justice. For that reason we oppose the amendments.