Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I add my voice to the chorus of support for the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth and Other Measures) Bill 2014 can I do two things. I congratulate the member for Forrest on her contribution to this important debate. As a former criminal lawyer, can I say it was well considered and I am sure very well received. I also congratulate the Minister for Justice and acknowledge the very important work he has been undertaking over recent days in this place—of course, this bill is in his name. I can only think of the stresses that are placed on him at a time of national crisis, such as that we are facing. My thoughts go out to the law enforcement men and women of this country. They are people I had a lot to do with in my former life as a criminal lawyer.

In that context I think I provide something of a unique perspective on this bill. As a community member I have a deep interest in ensuring that the community in which I live is safe and secure, in ensuring that we have measures that support the halting of crime and profits flowing from criminal bosses and in doing everything we can to limit the incentives for criminal activity. As a former criminal lawyer I come to this place with a perspective from the inside, if you like—not that I ever acted for criminal kingpins. Rather, I acted for people that I would describe as the criminal underlings, who were in very many respects victims in their own right, which is something I will speak about.

It is trite but I will say it: serious and organised crime poses a significant threat to all Australian communities and to people from all walks of life. We have seen high-profile outlaw motorcycle gangs, ethnic based criminal syndicates and other criminal enterprises go about exploiting hardworking Australian families. By ensuring that these criminal enterprises are not able to profit from their illegal actions we are providing a deterrent and protecting those hardworking families. Of course, most importantly, we are bringing criminals to justice.

That is the reason that we are taking the action in this bill that targets unexplained wealth. Unexplained wealth laws turn the tables on organised criminals who live off the benefits of their illegal activities at the expense of ordinary Australians and provide an avenue to target criminal kingpins, who enjoy the proceeds of crime without in any real sense getting their hands dirty in the trenches of criminal activity. I have spent a decade acting for people and ensuring that they receive justice and fair trials, but they are very often the criminal underlings. They are coopted into a life of crime, usually because of addiction or some other element, such as psychological frailty, and they are used as pawns by kingpins, who enjoy the proceeds of criminal activity and live the high life, if you like.

I am sure it has been mentioned many times in this debate that the most famous example of an unexplained wealth case is the prosecution of Al Capone in Chicago in the thirties. He profited from his illegal bootlegging enterprise and financed a number of criminal activities, including corruption and murder. It was by investigating sources of his illegitimate, unexplained wealth and undertaking a prosecution of him that the authorities were ultimately able to bring him to justice, albeit via the unusual course of a tax office prosecution.

There are of course a number of other examples where the proceeds of crime have been used to identify criminal activity rather than a criminal act in and of itself. One of the reasons why this is so important might not have been spoken about in this place. I have sat in interview rooms and had discussions with clients who the police know and I know are nothing but pawns in the process, but they do not, cannot and will not assist police authorities for fear of their own life. They are so scared about offering up any information about those people who have effectively turned them into victims that they keep shtum, and the kingpins continue on their campaign where they provide illicit substances to young men and women and extort ordinary everyday Australians. These measures strengthen the ability of law enforcement officers to go about these prosecutions without the need to obtain that often very difficult evidence from those involved as criminal underlings.

In appropriate circumstances, unexplained wealth laws allow a court to order a person to demonstrate, quite rightly, that his or her wealth has been lawfully acquired. If they are unable to do so, the person may be ordered to forfeit their illegitimate wealth. Unexplained wealth laws are a highly effective tool, as I have said, for fighting against serious and organised crime. Taking the profits out of criminal syndicates undermines the entire business model of the criminal group and prevents illicit funds from being reinvested to support further criminal activity.

I will pause at this point to say that undermining business models of criminal activity is something that has been discussed at length in this place, in another portfolio area, and I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister for Immigration for the work he has done to undermine that abhorrent trade in people: people-smuggling. What we have done, and what the minister has done so efficiently, so professionally and so methodically, is bust up the business model for the people smugglers. That highlights how important it is when you are fighting criminal syndicates and crime in general to go after the business model, because ultimately that is what is motivating the kingpins. The criminal underlings are perhaps motivated by their illicit-substance addiction or by other factors, but the kingpins, it will not surprise you to learn, are motivated by nothing more than money.

The coalition's policy to tackle crime promises to strengthen the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws to ensure that we have the toughest framework possible to target criminal proceeds. This commitment followed the 2011 inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement into the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws and arrangements. In its final report, the joint committee found that unexplained wealth provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 were not working as intended. The committee made 18 recommendations aimed at improving the investigation and, importantly, prosecution of Commonwealth unexplained wealth matters. While some of these recommendations have been implemented, there are a number outstanding, and we are seeking to rectify this situation as part of the commitment to make the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws as effective as possible.

There are effectively three measures in the bills, as you have heard from others. We are seeking to ensure the most effective framework for law enforcement to investigate and take action to target unexplained wealth and to streamline the processes for obtaining unexplained wealth orders while ensuring that appropriate safeguards are in place. We are also seeking to close the loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act so that we avoid the prospect of people escaping unexplained wealth actions and frustrating court processes.

In the time I have left I will briefly outline the amendments under each of these aims in further detail. As to the effective law enforcement framework, we are seeking to ensure that law enforcement powers are sufficient to target and restrain criminal assets. The bill will amend existing search-and-seizure powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act to allow authorised officers to seize material relevant to unexplained wealth. This amendment will address some uncertainty that exists under current arrangements. Other measures will enhance the ability of law enforcement to share information obtained under the Proceeds of Crime Act. To balance this expansion of power, which we must always do in this place, the bill requires the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police to report annually to the parliament's Joint Committee on Law Enforcement on the number of unexplained wealth investigations and applications. This will strengthen the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement's oversight of the use of these powers and ensure that appropriate checks and balances are in place.

As to the second aim—streamlining processes for obtaining unexplained wealth orders—as well as ensuring that law-enforcement agencies are better placed to attack the profits of criminal syndicates, the bill also responds to the joint committee's recommendation aimed at improving the efficiency and fairness of unexplained wealth laws. Under the bill, a court will no longer have an overarching discretion to refuse to make an unexplained wealth order for suspected wealth of $100,000 or more. The joint committee considered that there were adequate safeguards already contained in the act. The court will retain its discretion for orders for suspected wealth of less than $100,000 and will still be able to refuse to make an order if satisfied that it is not in the public interest. Removing the general discretion will improve certainty for parties while also maintaining appropriate protections for those who are subjected to unexplained wealth orders.

The bill will also reduce unnecessary duplication in affidavit requirements—and as someone who has drafted many of those I am sure that prosecutors around the country are cheering that—by repealing certain requirements where police have already presented the same affidavit material in support of an earlier application. The bill will also improve the court's ability to enforce an unexplained wealth order by setting out a process to allow a restrained property to be used to pay a debt owed to the Commonwealth under an unexplained wealth order. This will improve the enforcement of unexplained wealth orders and bring the scheme into line with other types of orders provided for in the Proceeds of Crime Act.

We must close the loopholes in the Proceeds of Crime Act. The bill does that. It addresses those loopholes that were identified by the joint committee. The bill will prevent restrained assets which may have been unlawfully acquired from being disbursed on legal expenses by people who are trying to frustrate the unexplained wealth proceedings. They will instead be able to seek representation through Legal Aid, as is the case with other Proceeds of Crime orders. The bill will also clarify that a person whose property is subject to a preliminary unexplained wealth order is prevented from frustrating unexplained wealth proceedings by simply failing to appear when ordered to do so.

In concluding, in addition to the further minor amendments made by the bill, these changes represent a major reform of the Commonwealth's unexplained wealth laws. The measures have been informed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement's comprehensive inquiry and extensive consultation with law-enforcement agencies and other stakeholders. I am confident that these additional powers will assist the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in bringing the kingpins I talked about to the justice they deserve. It is so common that the criminal underlings serve their penalty; it is so uncommon that the kingpins who drive this behaviour, who enjoy the proceeds of this behaviour, are brought to justice. These measures make it more likely. They strengthen the Commonwealth's capacity and are a measure of this government's resolve to go after serious and organised crime—because ultimately it is having a significant and deleterious effect on our community's safety and welfare. I highly commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context