Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move government amendments (1) and (2) together.

(1) Schedule 1, item 1, page 6 (after line 33), after paragraph 320.2(2)(i), insert:

  (ia) a plant or fungus, or an extract from a plant or fungus; or

(2) Schedule 6, page 39 (before line 3), before item 1, insert:

Anti -Money Laundering and Counter -Terrorism Financing Act 2006

1A Section 5 (after paragraph (s) of the definition of designated agency )

  Insert:

  (sa) the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission of Victoria; or

1B Section 5 (paragraph (t) of the definition of designated agency )

  Repeal the paragraph, substitute:

  (t) the Crime and Corruption Commission of Queensland; or

1C After paragraph 122(3)(g)

  Insert:

  (ga) if the entrusted investigating official is the Commissioner of Taxation or a taxation officer—the disclosure is:

     (i) of information relating to a communication under section 43 or 45; and

     (ii) for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of the entrusted investigating official's duties;

1D After subsection 122(3)

  Insert:

  (3A) Without limiting subparagraph (3)(ga)(ii), a disclosure for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of an entrusted investigating official's duties includes a disclosure of a kind mentioned in subsection 355-50(2) in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.

1E Application of amendments

  The amendments made by items 1C and 1D apply to disclosures of information on or after the commencement of those items (whenever the information was given under section 49 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006).

I propose two amendments to the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Psychoactive Substances and Other Measures) Bill 2014. The first amendment will specifically exclude plants, fungi and their extracts from the ban on the importation of psychoactive substances in schedule 1 of the bill. This amendment will address issues raised by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee in its report on the bill. The ban is intended to stop people from importing new synthetic versions of known drugs. While it was highly unlikely that Customs or AFP officers would stop and seize innocuous plants, herbs and fungi under the original provisions contained in the bill, these amendments will give importers of harmless substances greater certainty that the ban will not inadvertently affect them.

The second amendment will enhance Australia's anti-money laundering regime through amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. The amendments will provide legislative certainty for the Australian Taxation Office to raise taxation assessments when it uses information obtained under section 49 of the AML/CTF Act to match taxpayers with funds entering or leaving Australia. This will enhance the ATO's ability to catch tax cheats and will bolster the budget's bottom line.

This government is committed to fighting corruption wherever it lies. The amendments will enable the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission—IBAC—to assess financial intelligence to more effectively investigate corruption, as well as replace the Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland with the Crime and Corruption Commission of Queensland in the list of agencies permitted to access financial intelligence.

The minister has also approved minor additions to the explanatory memorandum of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Psychoactive Substances and Other Measures) Bill 2014. In addition, schedule 2—which relates to firearm offences—was made in response to concerns raised by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. The explanatory memorandum has been amended to reflect that the new mandatory minimum sentence for firearms-trafficking offences is not intended as a guide to the nonparole period, which in some cases may differ significantly from the head sentence. The amendment emphasises the government's intention of preserving a court's discretion in sentencing.

The addition to schedule 5, relating to validating airport investigations, will provide additional information—in the statements of compatibility with human rights—about the bill's engagement with rights under the ICCPR to outline that the bill is compatible with those rights. The addition includes a discussion on the right to an effective remedy and the right to a fair trial and fair hearing rights, following recommendations received from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in its 10th report of the 44th Parliament about the bill. I recommend these amendments to the House.

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