George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious Drugs, Identity Crime and Other measures) Bill 2012 contains a range of measures relating to Commonwealth criminal justice legislation, including amendments to:

ensure that the Commonwealth's serious drug offences framework can respond quickly to new and emerging substances

expand the scope of existing identity crime offences, as well as enact new offences for the use of a carriage service in order to obtain and/or deal with identification information

create new offences relating to air travel and the use of false identities

…   …   …

increase the value of a penalty unit and introduce a requirement for the triennial review of the penalty unit.

There are also minor amendments to improve the operation of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 and a technical amendment to clarify that superannuation orders can be made in relation to all periods of a person's employment as a Commonwealth employee.

I turn to Schedule 1, the purpose of which is to strengthen the Commonwealth's serious drug offences framework. Illicit drugs have a serious impact on the Australian community and are the cause a wide range of social, economic and personal harms. The bill's explanatory memorandum states that the amendments in this schedule ensure that Commonwealth laws are up to date and allow for flexible, quick responses to new and emerging drug threats—for example, substances that seek to mimic the effects of other illicit drugs.

This amendment will:

transfer the lists of illicit substances—

to which the Commonwealth serious drug offences apply—

from the Criminal Code to the regulations; establish conditions and criteria for listing controlled and border controlled substances in regulations; amend emergency determination mechanisms by extending the listing period and refining the criteria to be satisfied before a determination can be made.

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service are responsible for managing the security and integrity of Australia's borders, including the detection of illicit drugs and other contraband substances. Customs officers work hard day and night to detect and deter unlawful movements of goods and people across the border. Australian customs officers do a marvellous job under tough circumstances, particularly considering the damaging staff and budgetary cuts this government have inflicted upon them. Unfortunately, they are also being stretched due to the government's mismanagement of our borders—one of the most infamous legacies of this lamentable period of Labor government.

Since coming to office three years ago, the Labor Party has cut funding to Customs for cargo screening, making Australia's borders less secure and our nation more vulnerable to the threat posed by illicit drugs. In the 2009-10 budget, Labor cut the budget of Customs for cargo screening by a massive $58.1 million. This cut to screening by the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments reduced the number of potential sea cargo inspections by 25 per cent. Labor's cuts also resulted in a reduction of 75 per cent to air cargo inspections. In the recent Customs annual report, it was revealed that only 4.3 per cent of sea cargo—a trivial amount in the scheme of things—is X-rayed and only 0.6 per cent—some one in 200 items—of sea cargo is physically examined. It was also of concern to learn that a staggering 95.7 per cent of all sea cargo consignments are not X-rayed.

It is no wonder that illicit drugs are slipping through onto our streets under Labor when only 13.3 per cent of air cargo consignments are X-rayed and only 0.6 per cent of air cargo is physically examined. There is a direct cause and effect relationship between the growth of the problem of illicit drugs on our streets and the Labor Party's massive budgetary cutbacks to Customs—itself a consequence of the Labor Party's inability to manage the budget.

What has become clear is that Labor's cuts to Customs' cargo and vessel inspection system put Australians, particularly young Australians, at risk by giving a boost to organised criminal gangs that smuggle illicit drugs and weapons into the country. The Labor government prefers to tinker around the edges rather than ensure our law enforcement agencies are appropriately resourced to perform their work.

Let me turn to the serious and growing threat of identity crime. Schedule 2 of the bill seeks to expand identity crime offences in the Criminal Code and create new offences and powers relating to air travel and the use of false identities. Law enforcement agencies, such as the Australian Federal Police, have identified identity crime as a significant threat to Australians and one of the fastest growing species of crime in Australia. Australians have been quick to adopt the internet in their lives and businesses. For many Australians, it is now part of their daily routine for talking to friends and family, studying, shopping and paying bills. Similarly, businesses have embraced the internet and other information technology to improve efficiency, improve the quality of service and gain access to new markets. Regrettably, this has also created new prospects for criminals who seek to access personal and corporate secrets, steal resources and intimidate internet-reliant businesses. Additionally, the global community continues to experience an increase in the scale, sophistication and successful perpetration of cybercrime and identity theft. As the extent and importance of electronic information has increased, so too have the efforts of criminals and other malicious actors who have adopted the internet as a more convenient, anonymous and profitable method of conducting their criminal activities.

It is unfortunate that the Labor government does not appreciate the key role the Australian Federal Police plays in protecting Australia's security in this arena, as in other arenas. Since it came to office, Labor has cut a staggering $264.5 million from the AFP, including a cut of a massive $133 million in the current budget alone. The AFP's High Tech Crime Operations Centre, led by Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan, does an outstanding job considering the limited resources it has available to it and the constant evolution of the cyberthreat.

The amendments made by this bill seek to extend existing identity crime offences to the use of identification information to commit foreign indictable offences, in addition to Commonwealth indictable offences. This is directed at individuals who are located in Australia and engage in international identity crime. The internet and other new technologies provide ideal vehicles for organised criminal syndicates to capture and exploit the identity information of others. Part 1 of the schedule seeks to introduce the new offence of dealing in identity information using a carriage service such as the internet. This will capture individuals who use the internet to make, supply or use identification information with the intent of passing themselves, or someone else, off as the person identified in the information for the purpose of committing an offence.

Part 2 of schedule 2 includes amendments that are aimed at enabling law enforcement agencies to target individuals who travel by air under false identities. The aim is specifically to prevent individuals involved in organised crime from taking flights under false identities in order to commit or facilitate the commission of crimes and avoid police detection. The coalition has long been of the view that more needs to be done on this front, including in our maritime and aviation sectors, which have been infiltrated by organised criminal networks.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement held an inquiry into the adequacy of aviation and maritime security measures to combat serious and organised crime, and it reported in June 2011. The committee heard evidence that individuals involved in organised crime had regularly been travelling by air under false identities in order to avoid police detection and facilitate criminal activities, such as money laundering and illicit drug trafficking. Surprisingly, it is not currently an offence to use false information to travel by air. Accordingly, the committee recommended the creation of this new offence to reduce a vulnerability that is being exploited by criminal networks. This amendment will also allow police officers the power to request identity information from individuals where the police officer holds a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, or intends to commit, a serious criminal offence. The coalition supports measures that thwart the attempts of criminal syndicates to take advantage of lax conditions. However, it is unfortunate that it has taken the government almost a year and a half to act on these recommendations and respond to an urgent problem with appropriate swiftness.

Schedule 3 of the bill makes some technical amendments relating to the functions of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner, the value of penalty units, and superannuation orders. The coalition supports those measures. They are not controversial and they reflect an appropriate contemporising of the legislation.

In conclusion, the bill makes a numbers changes to Commonwealth criminal law, largely to tighten and clarify existing legislation, which has the coalition's support. The bill was the subject of an inquiry and report by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which reported yesterday. The committee unanimously recommended that the bill be passed. The bill has the support of the coalition and I commend it to the Senate.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious Drugs, Identity Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2012. As the nature of crime changes and as technology changes, it is important that we give police the tools they need to keep up with emerging criminal trends and threats. This is particularly the case with organised crime.

This bill makes a series of amendments to existing criminal legislation to strengthen the law and the Commonwealth's response to these threats.

While the bill has a number of provisions, I will be focusing my contribution to the debate on this bill mainly on a particular type of crime—that is, identity theft. I take a particular interest in identity theft because I have come across so many stories about it through my work as Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety. Identity theft particularly came to the fore as one of the many threats facing seniors during the committee's inquiry into cybersafety for senior Australians.

This crime involves using an individual's personal details, usually obtained through deceitful or fraudulent means, to assume their identity. It is commonly used for financial gain, with the victim usually being the person whose identity has been stolen. There are a number of ways of stealing personal information for identity theft, but the most common method is known as 'phishing'. Phishing generally involves sending an email purporting to be from an official source, such as a financial institution or a lottery, or someone asking the recipient to act as an intermediary in the transfer of funds. The purpose of the email is to fool the recipient into sending personal details, such as their user name, address, date of birth, tax file number, driver's licence number, passport number, passwords or credit card details. Phishing emails usually entice their victims through offers of money and will direct them to a website, often a mirror of the website of the company they are purporting to represent, to add to their perceived legitimacy.

In 2007, the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted a survey about personal fraud. The survey reported that 57,800 Australians had responded to phishing emails and 124,000 Australians had been victims of identity theft. I know that that number has grown substantially because of the way technology is changing so quickly. Phishing scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, as was indicated by evidence given to the cybersafety committee by the Australian Taxation Office. The ATO has received complaints about a scam involving a fraudulent email offering a tax refund. A link in the email directs the recipient to a bogus website which then asks them to provide their personal details, including credit card details. The scammers have gone to great lengths to make the email and the website look as authentic as possible and—unlike the well-known Nigerian and lottery scams, which entice their victims with large and, frankly, unbelievable sums of money—the tax refund scam offers what appears to be a credible sum, in the hundreds of dollars and not a round figure, so people are tricked a bit more easily.

Cybercriminals are becoming so brazen that cybercrime brokers are posting advertisements in online discussion forums promoting their services. The Australian Crime Commission in its submission to the cybersafety for seniors inquiry said that some of the information for sale included credit card details, magnetic strip coding and personal identification numbers, hacked payment clearing company account data, bank logins and stolen identities.

The Australian Federal Police in its submission to the inquiry identified superannuation fraud as an emerging risk for identity crime and identity theft. This is worrying because of the large amount of savings held in superannuation funds but particularly because a lot of victims are not aware that they have had their identity stolen until many years after the crime has been committed. So this bill is really important to making sure we keep Australians safe while they are online. Superannuation fraud usually results in the offenders transferring funds into self-managed accounts or applying for hardship payments. Obviously it causes devastation for the victims, many of whom lose their life savings. That is another grave consequence of identity crime committed online.

According to some other evidence we have had, a lot of seniors are reluctant to use internet banking or other online services because of concerns about the lack security around their financial information or access to bank accounts and credit cards. It is unfortunate that so many people who could benefit greatly from the use of online services miss out on those benefits because of the fear of these risks.

The social cost of identity crime and identity theft actually extends well beyond those directly affected. Modern technology, particularly internet technology, is delivering fantastic social and economic benefits by providing users with new tools to transact with business, government, friends and family. But it is also providing new and sophisticated tools to cybercriminals, who have no qualms about using identities or personal information for their own financial gain.

While the online environment is not the only avenue for identity thieves, it is where they are finding most of their new opportunities, and it is so important that our law enforcement capabilities keep up with these criminals. It is vital that our law enforcement authorities have the tools to combat identity theft, and the bill currently before the Senate at least provides some of the legislative tools necessary.

This bill broadens the definition of identity crime offences, making it an offence to deal in identification information to commit foreign indictable offences, not just Commonwealth indictable offences. This will strengthen the current regime for identity crime by capturing individuals located in Australia who engage in international identity crime.

The bill also introduces the new offence of dealing in identity information using a carriage service. This will capture people who use the internet to make, supply or use identification information for the purpose of committing or facilitating a Commonwealth, state, territory or foreign offence. The bill also adds a new series of offences to the Criminal Code of using a false identity to purchase an air ticket or to travel by air.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my contribution, today I am focusing primarily on identity crime as this is an area of great interest to me, but there are a number of other provisions in the bill. Due to the shortage of time today I will just mention them quickly, but they are no less important than those around identity crime.

The bill will enable new substances to be listed more quickly under the Commonwealth's serious drug offences framework; increase the value of the penalty unit for Commonwealth criminal offences and provide for its regular review to keep pace with inflation; clarify that a superannuation order can be made in relation to employer funded contributions and benefits accrued during all periods of Commonwealth employment, not just the particular period of employment in which an employee committed a corruption offence; and strengthen the Commonwealth law enforcement integrity system by clarifying the functions of the Integrity Commissioner.

In commending the bill to the Senate I would like to congratulate the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, for her hard work in bringing Australia's criminal law up to date with emerging threats and issues. In an increasingly connected global society, and with the emergence of faster and better communications technology, organised crime is truly becoming more sophisticated than ever before. As society changes and as technology changes, so must the provisions of our criminal law. We need to give our law enforcement authorities the legislative tools to combat crime in the 21st century. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contributions to the debate on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious Drugs, Identity Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2012 and all senators, including opposition senators, for their support for this bill. I also thank the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for its report and recommendations that the Senate pass this bill. This bill delivers on the government's continuing commitment to combatting serious and organised crime and corruption. It ensures that we have the right laws in place to counter identity crime, drug importation and white-collar crime.

With respect to points raised in the debate, I know Senator Brandis has raised the issue of the budgets of law enforcement agencies. The fact is that border protection and law enforcement budgets have been substantially increased since 2007. Our agencies are also increasingly successful in seizing illegal drugs and disrupting serious and organised crime. This is because Customs and the Australian Federal Police are using criminal intelligence and targeting instead of relying on X-ray alone. In developing the budget, the Commonwealth consulted law enforcement agencies to ask whether they want more screening or more criminal intelligence, and law enforcement agencies indicated that they want more criminal intelligence. That is why the government has established a firearms intelligence targeting team within Customs and has invested about $100 million in a new Australian Federal Police forensics facility to do things like firearms testing and bullet tracing.

Across the agencies, it is also important to note—and I ask Senator Brandis, respectfully, to do so—that the Australian Crime Commission's budget is more than $20 million higher now than it was in 2007, the Customs and Border Protection Service budget is $67 million higher than it was in 2007, the Australian Federal Police budget is more than $340 million higher and there are 600 more sworn Australian Federal Police than there were back in 2007.

What does all this mean when it comes to fighting serious crime? It means getting impressive results. Last year we seized more heroin, more cocaine and more amphetamines than ever before. In July we seized half a billion dollars worth of illegal drugs, the largest seizure of ice in Australian history and the third-largest heroin seizure. That is more than we often seize in an entire year. The amount of drugs and illicit materials we have seized in air cargo has more than doubled since 2007. In 2007, Customs detected some 870 parcels containing drugs or other prohibited items. Last financial year, using criminal intelligence and targeting, Customs detected over 1,800 parcels. That is quite an extraordinary increase.

This bill will allow drug laws to keep pace with the market for new and emerging drugs by moving lists of illicit substances from the Criminal Code to regulations. This will make it substantially quicker to update the list in response to new threats and will make the list more responsive to law enforcement needs. The government is committed to minimising the impact of harmful drugs in Australia, as you can see from these measures.

The bill will also target identity crime, which is one of the fastest-growing crimes in Australia. The government's comprehensive identity security strategy will be bolstered by expanding identity crime offences to cover people who use a carriage service, such as the internet or a mobile phone, to obtain identification information with the intention of committing another offence. It will also criminalise the use of identity information with the intent to commit a foreign offence. Travelling under a false identity is a tactic commonly used by organised criminals in Australia and overseas to evade law enforcement detection, and this bill will make it a crime to use a false identity to book a flight over the internet or to use a false identity when identifying oneself for the purposes of travelling on a flight.

This bill will also increase the value of the penalty unit by more than 50 per cent, to $170. This increase ensures that financial penalties provide a strong deterrent to white-collar criminals in serious and organised crime groups. Corruption will be targeted by making improvements to the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 and the Commonwealth superannuation order laws. Finally, this bill represents a significant step in the effort to combat serious and organised crime and white-collar crime, and I commend it to the chamber.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.