Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Crimes Amendment (Penalty Unit) Bill 2022. The purpose of this bill is to increase the Commonwealth penalty unit amount from $222 to $275. Penalty units are used to describe the amount payable for monetary penalties imposed for criminal offences in Commonwealth legislation and territory ordinances. Commonwealth penalties are generally expressed in terms of penalty units rather than specific values to assist with the adjustment of penalties across Commonwealth legislation. This legislation will adjust the penalty unit to reflect community expectations and continue to remain effective in deterring unlawful behaviour.

When the penalty unit was introduced in 1992, the value was set at $100. The value has adjusted four times since it was introduced. It was increased to $110 in 1997, to $170 in 2012, to $180 in 2015 and then to $210 in 2017. In 2015 the former coalition government amended the Crimes Act to introduce an indexation mechanism to automatically increase the value of the penalty unit every three years in line with CPI. An indexation occurred on 1 July 2020 where the penalty unit was increased to $222, where it currently remains today. What the bill before the Senate will do is ensure the three-yearly indexation cycle continues from 1 July 2023.

The coalition will always support laws that will deter crime and will protect the lives of Australians from the threat of criminals. In the 2022-23 March budget, the coalition government announced an investment of $170.4 million in the AFP and the Australian Border Force capabilities to harden Australia's border against transnational, serious and organised crime, including: the establishment of dedicated AFP strike teams to target the importation and manufacture of illicit drugs, firearms and money laundering; boosting the AFP's specialist capabilities to keep pace with the growing threat of outlaw motorcycle gangs, organised crime cartels and other crime groups; and strengthening investment in AFP's Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce to further disrupt the criminal business and remove the profit out of crime. Ensuring our community and borders were protected was always a priority for the former coalition government, and that's why the AFP's funding increased to a record $1.7 billion. In government, the coalition provided our law enforcement intelligence and border agencies the powers and resources they needed to take the profit out of crime and harden Australia's supply chain against criminals.

From the latest analysis by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, transnational serious and organised crime costs the Australian economy up to $60.1 billion per year. This is unacceptable. This has a devastating impact for families and communities, causing lost income, health and social impacts and the erosion of public trust in our government, business and public institutions.

The AFP led operation IRONSIDE publicly exposed the insidious and pervasive impact that transnational serious and organised crime has on the safety and security of Australia. Whilst Operation IRONSIDE was a success, there is more work to do. This bill continues on that work and that is why these changes are necessary. On that note, I commend the bill to the Senate.