Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

() (): The incorporated speech read as follows—

Mr President, I rise to speak about the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015 and the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015 — which were discussed in this chamber earlier today.

As already stated, the purpose of the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill is to amend the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 to merge CrimTrac and its functions into the Australian Crime Commission, and make consequential amendments to other Acts.

Established in 2000, CrimTrac is a "joint venture partnership" between the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department (AGD) and the state and federal police agencies, and is an executive agency within the Attorney-General's portfolio.

CrimTrac is headed by a Chief Executive Officer and as at June 2015, had 207 employees.

It operates under a self-funded model, with most of its revenue coming from charges paid by police and other agencies for its National Police Checking Service.

The charges are paid into the National Policing Information Systems and Services Special Account and go towards operating expenses and police information services to all jurisdictions.

Australian Crime Commission

The ACC commenced operation on 1 January 2003. It has its origins in the April 2002 Council of Australian Government Leaders Summit, which agreed that a new national framework was needed to meet the challenges of multi-jurisdictional crime.

It replaced and combined the strategic and operational intelligence and specialist investigative capabilities of the National Crime Authority, the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, and the Office of Strategic Crime Assessments.

It has a specific focus on serious and organised crime of national significance. According to its latest Annual Report, the aim of the ACC is to "reduce serious and organised crime threats of most harm to Australians and the national interest".

To achieve this aim, the ACC has a range of special coercive powers such as the capacity to compel attendance at examinations, production of documents and the answering of questions (similar to a Royal Commission).

The ACC also has an intelligence-gathering capacity and a range of investigative powers common to law-enforcement agencies, such as the power to tap phones, use surveillance devices and participate in controlled operations.

The ACC's main functions, as set out in the ACC Act, are to:

Operations and investigations must be approved by the ACC Board, which also determines whether the operation or investigation is a "special" operation or investigation, in which the ACC's coercive powers (broadly equivalent to those of a Royal Commission) may be used.

The ACC is a statutory agency within the Attorney-General's portfolio. It is headed by a CEO and as at June 2015, had a staff of 581, plus 36 secondees from other Commonwealth agencies and state and territory law enforcement agencies.

The ACC Board includes the heads of the state and territory police agencies, and reports to an Inter-Governmental Committee comprising the Commonwealth Minister for Justice and a minister from each state and territory.

Merger

The 2014 Commission of Audit considered whether agencies responsible for criminal intelligence and information should be merged. It concluded the agencies were working effectively together, but recommended CrimTrac be merged with the ACC "to better harness their collective resources" and "better support law enforcement operations by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other Commonwealth and State agencies".

The Commission of Audit noted that implementing its recommendation would require consultation with state and territory governments, stating, "It is critical that their interests are reflected, including through the continued representation of the State police commissioners on the Australian Crime Commission board".

The Commonwealth consulted state and territory governments through the ACC and CrimTrac boards on options to "improve collaboration" between the two agencies.

In November 2015, the Law, Crime, and Community Safety Council, comprising justice ministers from all Australian jurisdictions, agreed to the Commonwealth taking the necessary steps to merge CrimTrac and the ACC.

The Minister for Justice, to whom both agencies are responsible, stated:

State and Territory Attorneys-General and Police Ministers gave historic in-principle agreement to embrace the new national security measure that will see CrimTrac IT specialists work side by side with the ACC's top intelligence analysts to pursue and undermine evolving national security threats.

With today's agreement from each jurisdiction, the Commonwealth will work towards getting the newly merged agency up and running by 1 July 2016. This will ensure that each jurisdiction has sufficient time to make the necessary legislative changes.

This merger is vital because our law enforcement and protection agencies need accurate information and intelligence to respond to immediate threats.

In this security landscape we must provide ample and instant information that identifies the patterns and associations that can help detect and disrupt significant threats.

Privacy Concerns

Mr President, the proposed merger of these two agencies raises legitimate questions about what the privacy implications may be. This is because the agencies collect, store and share privileged information differently.

The Minister, the AGD, the ACC and CrimTrac have provided assurances to the Opposition about these issues.

The ACC and CrimTrac are both currently 'enforcement bodies' under the Privacy Act 1988.

This means they may already share personal information for enforcement-related activities, including for the prevention of crime and intelligence gathering activities.

The ACC is subject to safeguards and oversight:

The merger would bring CrimTrac information into this framework.

CrimTrac's primary functions revolve around facilitating national sharing of information provided by other agencies, primarily police.

To mitigate any risks, the Attorney-General's Department and the agencies are conducting a Privacy Impact Assessment. This document details how each CrimTrac system collects, stores and uses information and outlines why a Privacy Act exemption is appropriate.

Further, to ensure transparency in the agency's dealings with personal information, the agencies are working with the Privacy Commissioner to develop and publish a protocol around personal information handling.

In conclusion

Mr President, Labor referred these Bills to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Commission for proper scrutiny and an opportunity for stakeholders to raise their concerns, and I note the Committee recommended that the bills be passed.

Labor is satisfied that there has been proper scrutiny of this merger and will support these Bills.