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

I rise to speak on the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 2) Bill 2023. The coalition will be supporting this bill. On behalf of Senator Paterson and myself, we will facilitate its passage through the parliament.

There are three schedules to this bill. Schedule 1 is in relation to parole. This schedule makes a technical amendment to clarify the Attorney-General's decision-making powers in relation to parole under part 1B of the Crimes Act. At present, there is a mandatory requirement for the Attorney-General to make a parole decision in relation to a federal sentence before the end of a non-parole period. However, sometimes it is impossible to meet this obligation. This can happen in two circumstances, the first being where an offender is eligible for parole immediately following sentencing because of time already served while held on remand. Second, it can happen when an offender's sentence is reduced on appeal. When this happens, the legislation is unclear on what the Attorney's obligations are and the legal consequences that flow from the inability to make a parole decision within the stipulated time frame. This schedule puts beyond doubt that the Attorney can still make a decision to grant or refuse parole in these cases.

Schedule 2 concerns drug importation. It changes the way we make regulations to list substances as border controlled plants, drugs and precursors. Currently, to deal effectively with drug importation, we need appropriate powers under the Criminal Code and the Customs Act and appropriate cross-references under the Defence Force Discipline Act. The changes to the regulation-making powers allow substances to be listed in a consistent and flexible way that lines up across all three acts. Importantly, the changes will also allow the government to say that some substances are only treated as serious drugs or precursors for specific and narrowly defined purposes. Specifically, the provisions of schedule 2 allow a substance to be listed as a border controlled plant drug or precursor only in relation to specific offences in part 9.1 of the Criminal Code or elements of those offences.

As we understand it, the government's intent is to ensure that we are able to deal effectively with dual-use precursors. These are substances that have a legitimate use but can also be turned into illegal drugs. An example is a substance called butanediol, which has a range of legitimate uses as a solvent and in the manufacture of plastics. However, it is also a precursor and substitute for the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB, or liquid ecstasy. These chemicals are imported legitimately under the Industrial Chemicals Act 2019, but it is clear that more action is needed to ensure that the import of these dual-use precursors is effectively disrupted at the border.

We understand that the government intends to use these amended regulation-making powers to make targeted regulations that line up with the licensing system under the Industrial Chemicals Act. The government tells us it intends to use these regulation-making powers to ensure that unlawful import is treated as an offence under the Criminal Code. But targeting the regulations appropriately will ensure that it does not inadvertently criminalise legitimate actions of licensed businesses that follow the rules. We think this is a sensible amendment that allows our drug laws to keep up with changes to the importation of precursors by serious organised crime groups.

In relation to schedule 3—and I will speak on behalf of the shadow minister, Senator James Paterson—this schedule deals with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, otherwise known as the ACIC. The ACIC is one of our premier organisations, bringing together law enforcement, national security, policy and regulatory agencies to combat serious and organised crime. The provisions of this schedule relate to technical processes of the ACIC board and follow changes commenced under the former coalition government and continued by Labor in government. These technical and validation provisions preserve the status quo and ensure that there is no legal doubt about decision-making processes undertaken by the ACIC so it can continue to combat serious and organised crime.

As I said, the coalition stands ready to facilitate the passage of these bills through the parliament. I commend the bill to the Senate.