David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Attorney. I must admit I am a little confused. I thought this bill was all about serious crime—terrorism, paedophilia and organised crime are the terms I think that I have heard you use several times. White-collar crime, I suppose, at its most extreme end could perhaps be called organised crime, but it absolutely could not be called paedophilia or terrorism. Insider trading, as I am sure you are aware, is not actually illegal in some countries, including across the ditch in New Zealand. It certainly does not qualify as serious organised crime.

This reinforces, I guess, my prediction that this is mission creep—this is regulatory creep. We are not just talking about serious crimes. This legislation will be used for all kinds of crimes. I doubt very much whether its impact on terrorism or paedophilia or serious organised crime will be very great at all, but it will be very substantial on matters that really do not warrant such intrusive powers.