George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

As you are aware, because I know you take a close interest in this area of policy, there are various estimates as to the value of the criminal economy in Australia. Because of the nature of the covert and surreptitious and hidden nature of what we are dealing with, those estimates are necessarily very vague estimates. But, for example, the Australian Crime Commission has estimated that the annual value of the criminal economy in this country is up to $15 billion. So that is the order of magnitude of which we are speaking. The amount that could be recovered or is usually recovered under legislation of this kind would be but a very small fraction of a sum like that. But we are talking about a very substantial amount of money.

As I pointed out in answer to your previous question, the legislation as currently written has not proved to be effective, which is why we are strengthening it. So it is really impossible to give a reliable estimate as to how much we expect or hope the legislation in its amended form could recover. But if you think about the value of the criminal economy as $15 billion annually in transactions, then that is the order of magnitude with which we are dealing.

In relation to whether or not monies or assets seized under this legislation could be diverted to drug rehabilitation or drug prevention programs, the answer to your question is that, although the proceeds collected or recovered under the act are hypothecated to a proceeds of crime account, the proceeds of crime account is to be spent on crime prevention purposes. As you would be aware, most drug diversion strategies are health matters and not criminal matters. They are programs conducted through the Department of Health, so ordinarily one would not expect so. But that is not to say that there might not be some drug diversion strategies that bear a sufficiently close connection to criminal law enforcement that they might be considered as eligible programs for outlays from the proceeds of crime account. That is something that would have to be assessed on a case by case basis.