Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the two minutes available for this debate this evening, I will make some brief points on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015, which contains a range of measures to improve Commonwealth criminal justice arrangements.

The bill includes amendments to improve the operation and effectiveness of the serious drug and precursor offences in part 9.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995—the Criminal Code. It includes amendments to the Criminal Code to clarify the war crime offence of outrages upon personal dignity in a non-international armed conflict and to expand the definition of forced marriage in the Criminal Code to include circumstances in which a victim does not freely and fully consent because he or she is incapable of understanding the nature and effect of a marriage ceremony. There are amendments to increase the penalties for the forced marriage offences in the Criminal Code to ensure that they are commensurate with the most serious slavery related facilitation offences.

The bill includes amendments to rectify administrative inefficiencies, address certain legislative anomalies and clarify provisions in part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 relating to federal offenders. It includes amendments to allow the interstate transfer of federal prisoners to occur at a location other than a prison and amendments to facilitate information sharing about federal offenders between the Attorney-General's Department and relevant third-party agencies.

The bill amends the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 to clarify and address enforceability issues and operational constraints identified by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre—AUSTRAC. There are also amendments to allow the Integrity Commissioner to perform his or her functions more efficiently and effectively while improving the general operation of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006. The bill includes amendments to the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Australian Crime Commission's special operations and investigations. The bill amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to increase penalties for failing to comply with a production order—

Debate interrupted.