Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity on the examination of the annual report for 2011-12 of the Integrity Commissioner, together with the Hansard record of proceedings.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

The Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 requires the committee to examine each annual report and each special report prepared by the integrity commissioner and report to parliament. During 2011 and 2012, ACLEI, as the committee is known, focused extensively on the activities of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. This was the first year that Customs came under ACLEI's purview. That expanded jurisdiction, in effect from January 2011, was recommended by the committee in 2010 in its report on the operation of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commission Act 2006. This was a resource intensive focus for ACLEI as it examined the influence of organised crime on those who work to protect our borders

ACLEI looked carefully at the corruption risk to those same individuals and those efforts are paying off. Senators would be aware of the media coverage which has accompanied a number of arrests of personnel in the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.

The expanded jurisdiction and focus on Customs means that the overall workload for ACLEI has increased. It assessed and investigated 185 corruption issues in 2011-12. At the beginning of last year, 2012, ACLEI marked five years of operation. In light of that significant milestone and of the challenges that I have referred to, it is appropriate that ACLEI committed to implementing the recommendations of two reviews into its operations by Mr Peter Hamburger PSM. In essence, the implementation of those recommendations will support ACLEI in meeting the new challenges which it faces, not only because of its current and expanding workload but also because as of July this year the staff of three more agencies will come within its jurisdiction: that is, the staff of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre—AUSTRAC—CrimTrac and the biosecurity staff of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Again, this expansion to ACLEI's role was recommended by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on ACLEI.

Finally, the committee commends the Integrity Commissioner and his staff for their 2011-12 annual report and the role that it has played over the last six years.

Question agreed to.