Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Cash. We've made our position clear, as I outlined in my contribution in committee before. When ordinary Australians commit crimes they feel the full force of the law. However, under the deferred prosecution agreement scheme proposed by the former government, companies that engaged in serious corporate crime, including foreign bribery, would have been able to negotiate a fine, agree to a set of conditions and have their cases put on indefinite hold. The introduction of a DPA scheme should only be entertained after the measures in this bill have been enacted and given time to work, which is why we supported the original amendments. There is universal agreement that the existing foreign bribery offences in the Criminal Code are grossly inadequate, and the government is of the view that the reforms in this bill further enhance Australia's implementation of its obligations under the OECD antibribery convention. Whilst a DPA scheme could encourage companies to self-report foreign bribery, there are existing mechanisms where a country can self-report conduct involving a suspected breach of division 70 of the Criminal Code. The Australian Federal Police website has guidance on self-reporting.