Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Dobell for her very eloquent support of this bill, as indeed I commend the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Psychoactive Substances and Other Measures) Bill 2014. I am sure we have all heard anecdotal stories from friends or people in our communities about psychoactive substances that are designed to mimic the psychoactive effect of illicit drugs but whose chemical structures are not captured by existing controls on those drugs. That is the essence of this bill. Through TV reports and many other things, we have seen that a substance that mimics these psychoactive drugs is not covered by existing legislation, even though the effect they have and the damage they can do is exactly like that of such drugs.

Mr Deputy Speaker Kelly, as you know and as we all know, synthetic psychoactive substances can pose as serious a risk to the community as traditional illicit drugs, as we have seen through the tragic deaths—in fact, there have been some just over the last week or so—of many young people across Australia. Not only do these substances have effects on people's life and death; they can also have effects on the mental health of many of the users of these substances.

New psychoactive substances have been a growing problem for governments throughout the world, including in Australia, in recent years. As we and many governments have progressively banned these substances as evidence about their use and harm has become available, manufacturers are simply altering the composition of the substances to avoid the law as it currently stands. To address this serious community safety issue, the government has introduced this legislation to ban the importation of all psychoactive substances unless they have a legitimate use. These legislative changes will put us ahead of criminals, and we obviously always need to be ahead of criminals.

The other aspect of this is the illicit trade of these substances, and I think we are all aware that the people who market and sell this stuff are very organised and make a lot of money from it, which poses problems within our communities. The ban will close the loophole that allows people to deliberately avoid prosecution by slightly changing the chemical structure of these banned substances.

The bill also introduces offences into the Criminal Code to ban the importation of substances based on their psychoactive effect where they are presented as alternatives to illicit drugs. As you can see, this is throwing the onus back onto them to prove that what they are doing is not illegal. This bill will also amend the Customs Act to allow officers of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the Australian Federal Police to stop these drugs, to seize them and to destroy them before they can be put on the market. As I have just said, it will be up to a person whose goods have been seized on suspicion of them being a new psychoactive substance to show why they should be returned to them—that is, by showing they have a legitimate use, such as for foods, medicines, or industrial, agricultural and veterinary chemicals. This approach will operate alongside existing drug offences. It will reduce the availability of potentially harmful new substances, giving authorities time to place appropriate controls around them. As I said, it throws the onus back onto these people to prove that what they are doing is not going to involve an illegal or illicit product.

The bill also introduces the election commitments in relation to firearms. In the lead-up to the election last year the coalition undertook to implement tougher penalties for gun related crime. As with all of our election promises, we are following through on that promise. In relation to this one we are creating a more comprehensive set of offences and penalties for the trafficking of firearms and firearm parts. In 2012—I am sure you are aware of this Deputy Speaker Kelly—firearms were identified as being the type of weapon used in 25 per cent of homicides in Australia. Currently, criminals can potentially evade firearms trafficking offences and penalties by breaking firearms down and trafficking them in their parts. This bill closes that gap by enabling the conviction of those trafficking parts. The bill also introduces mandatory minimum sentences of five years imprisonment for offenders charged with trafficking firearms or firearm parts. As an adjunct to that, the minimum mandatory sentence will not apply to minors.

The introduction of these measures aligns with a key government priority of detecting and disrupting organised crime groups and criminal gangs within Australia. These groups have a culture of violence. They are involved in the illicit drugs trade, firearms trafficking, money laundering, extortion et cetera. obviously, these people are not necessarily ones you would invite around for Sunday lunch. They are very well organised. They are involved in illegal activities and from these activities they are making a lot of money and increasing their influence within the wider part of our society, which we do not want them to do.

To target this threat the government has already delivered on a number of key election commitments. The national anti-gang strike teams have been established in a number of states. This means specialists from a range of national agencies have been embedded with state police. The Australian Gangs Intelligence Coordination Centre, based in the Australian Crime Commission, has been established. It collates information from the national anti-gang strike teams to target cross-border operations. Also, $88 million has been committed to Customs and Border Protection to increase cargo screenings, to stop drugs and firearms before they hit our streets. New legislation to strengthen Australia's unexplained wealth regime has been introduced. We passed this through the House of Representatives recently. It will strike at the heart of organised crime by taking away the profits and assets of criminal syndicates. In fact, as you would be aware, a lot of the money we are getting from that is being put into crime fighting—things like CCTV cameras, of which I know there are some great ones rolling out into my community.

With all bills there is always a question of balance. Obviously there have been some points made in relation to human rights with all government legislation. Human rights is something we need very much to protect within our community. I believe the amendments are compatible with human rights, because they advance the right for individuals to know the nature and cause of any charge against them. To the extent that it may limit the protection against unlawful, arbitrary interference with privacy, I believe those limitations are reasonable, necessary and proportionate. I commend the bill to the House.

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