Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Universities and Research) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, I present two reports of the committee as listed at item 10 on today’s Order of Business, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the reports be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the reports.

AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement report on the examination of the Australian Crime Commission annual report 2009-10 is an important part of the committee's work. Indeed, it is a statutory obligation. The committee has therefore examined the ACC's account of its performance in 2009-10 and has found, happily, that the ACC has fulfilled all of its reporting requirements. 2009-10 was a landmark year for the Australian Crime Commission after a period of significant change. As the CEO, Mr John Lawler, described it, the agency has continued to define a valuable role adding value to partner agencies' work in the pursuit of serious and organised crime.

The Australian Crime Commission continues to unite the fight against serious and organised crime, operating as a conduit or point of fusion for criminal intelligence across the country. In this respect the committee was pleased to hear that the newly established criminal intelligence fusion capability has already identified 53 previously unknown serious and organised crime targets. Mr Deputy President, I am sure you would agree that that is very good news for our law enforcement community.

The Australian Crime Commission largely met the agreed key performance indicators. However, only 67 per cent of partner agencies agreed or strongly agreed that their understanding of the overall criminal environment has increased as a result of the commission's intelligence. The ACC has expressed its intention to improve upon this result and noted that the key performance indicator has since been adjusted to refer to understanding of the serious organised criminal environment to better reflect the aim of the Australian Crime Commission.

Mr Deputy President, there was also much discussion about control operations that you would recall. I will not go into that. Suffice to say that, given the level of complexity and global reach of criminal enterprise in today's world, a further review of the control operations regime may be appropriate to ensure that it remains an effective tool in the fight against serious and organised crime. I am very happy to commend the committee's report to the Senate.

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE ANNUAL REPORT

In relation to the joint committee's report on examination of the Australian Federal Police annual report 2009-10, you would be aware, Mr Deputy President, that the jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement has recently been widened to include the Australian Federal Police through amendments to provisions of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act. The committee now has a duty to examine each annual report of the Australian Federal Police and report back to the parliament on any matter appearing in or arising out of any such annual report.

So the committee has taken its first and very important look at the AFP's account of its performance in 2009-10 and has found—it is very good news—that the AFP has fulfilled all of its reporting requirements. As noted by the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mr Tony Negus, the AFP's first appearance before the committee is a significant milestone in the oversight of the AFP. Let us face it, I know that the government, the opposition and the Australian people are proud of this institution and its oversight is an important aspect of the committee's, and indeed the parliament's, role.

I make one point before I close. The AFP largely met key performance indicators with one exception: the drug harm index, a measurement of avoided cost of drug harm due to seizures and interdiction, achieved a result of $473 million. This fell considerably short of the domestic target of $886 million. This can largely be explained by the vagaries of the calculation of the index. I suspect that next time the committee—and I see one of its members, Senator Polley, here this afternoon—will examine that far more closely.

Moreover, in February of this year the Australian National Audit Office identified a need for the Australian Federal Police to improve the implementation of new policies. It made four recommendations relating to internal governance, risk management, organisational capability and oversight of new policy implementations. The AFP has endorsed these recommendations and the committee looks forward to their imple­mentation over time. The committee appreciates the AFP's engagement with the committee so far. I think the relationship has started off very well and all of us look forward to continuing to work with them. We look forward to an effective oversight relationship in the future as the AFP undertakes the committee's wider duties to monitor, review and report on the AFP's performance of its very important functions. I am very happy to commend the report to the Senate.