Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2018 is an omnibus bill relating to criminal justice arrangements. It's a bill that covers a wide range of areas, including the AFP's international cooperation work, disclosure of information in the context of controlled operations, custody notification and vulnerable witnesses. Schedule 1 of the bill relates to the AFP's international cooperation work. The schedule would amend the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 to enable the AFP to assist or cooperate with an international organisation or a non-governmental organisation outside Australia in relation to the provision of police services or police support services. Crime is becoming increasingly international. Seventy per cent of our serious criminal threats now have an international dimension. Our law enforcement agencies are up against complex transnational threats, from fraud syndicates working across countries to child exploitation material being produced and distributed globally, and, of course, there is the scourge of human trafficking and slavery in our supply chains. International partnerships allow the AFP to meet these challenges and threats.

Allowing the AFP to assist organisations overseas is a sensible change that Labor supports. But, of course, laws alone cannot prevent crime. If we want to stop complex international threats, we must support the Australian Federal Police. Unfortunately, this government has chosen to cut AFP funding and slash staff. In budget estimates, the Australian Federal Police commissioner confirmed that the government's recent budget contains a $205 million cut to resourcing for the AFP over the forward estimates. As a result, Australian Federal Police staffing is predicted to fall from 6,448 personnel in the financial year 2018-19 to 5,881 personnel in the 2021-22 year. That's 567 AFP personnel to go over the next four years. Labor will be supporting this bill and the measures it contains to assist the Australian Federal Police in their work, but we also remain deeply concerned by this government's savage cuts to AFP funding.

Schedule 4 of this bill would increase the maximum penalty of breach of the general dishonesty offences in the Criminal Code from five years imprisonment to 10 years imprisonment. This change is designed to allow courts to impose appropriate sentences in circumstances where multiple instances of relatively minor fraud, when added together, amount to serious fraud. An absolutely critical part of this bill is the changes it makes to the custody notification obligations in the Crimes Act. Custody notification is an incredibly important protection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. This requirement ensures that police get in touch with Aboriginal legal assistance organisations before they question a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin in custody. Custody notification saves lives.

This bill seeks to amend a drafting error in our Commonwealth custody notification obligations. This error came to light in a 2013 case where the ACT Supreme Court found that, due to drafting issues, investigating officials are actually not currently required to notify an Aboriginal legal assistance organisation person before commencing questioning. However, the bill, as originally drafted, would have removed the absolute requirement to notify a legal assistance organisation and replaced it with a requirement to take 'reasonable steps' to notify a legal assistance organisation and wait for two hours before questioning the person. As stakeholders noted, there are many reasons why an Aboriginal legal assistance organisation may not be able to respond, and these proposed changes may leave individuals without important protections. The change would have been particularly concerning for people in remote and regional areas where it's not always possible to access legal services, certainly not within two hours.

Custody notification prevents deaths in custody. Custody notification schemes were a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and it's important that they must not be watered down. Labor listened to evidence from stakeholders on the importance of this scheme, met with the minister and raised these issues in our additional comments on the bill. These concerns were heard and addressed by the minister in amendments to this bill, which would ensure that the absolute notification requirement remains in place. This is fantastic news and an example of parliament working at its best.

I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service; the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia; the Aboriginal Legal Service (New South Wales/ACT); the Law Council of Australia; Legal Aid New South Wales; and the Australian Human Rights Commission for their work in fighting for the retention of these important obligations. Not only did they make valuable and important contributions to the parliamentary process but many of these organisations work every day to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the justice system.

Labor will be supporting the measures in this bill to strengthen protections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, but there's so much more to do in this space. We must do more to address the systemic injustice and prejudice that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders still face in the criminal justice system and in society more broadly.