Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Criminal Code Amendment (Food Contamination) Bill 2018 strengthens penalties for existing offences, and amends the nation's sabotage offences, to deal with acts of food supply contamination that now pose a clear and unprecedented risk to the safety of the Australian community and to the livelihoods of our nation's food producers.

The consequences we have witnessed from the contamination of strawberries demonstrate the public anxiety, the economic loss and the terrible real-world harm that one rogue actor can cause.

This harm has been amplified by a rapid escalation in copycat offenders and the perpetrators of hoaxes.

This bill is intended to send the simplest, clearest and strongest of messages. The behaviour we are now witnessing is not a joke. It is not funny. It is a serious criminal offence, and we denounce it, and offenders of it will face very serious consequences.

Contamination of goods

It is already illegal to intentionally contaminate with the intention of causing public harm, alarm or significant economic loss. It is also a crime to threaten to contaminate goods, or make false statements about the contamination of goods for one of those purposes.

However, recent events have demonstrated that the existing maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment is not sufficient.

The bill will address that by increasing the maximum penalty to 15 years imprisonment for those offences.

This will send a strong signal to would-be offenders by placing the penalty at an equivalent level to offences dealing with matters such as child pornography and the funding of terrorist organisations.

The clear and manifest risk we also see demonstrated by recent events appears to be inspiring hoaxes and copycat offenders. These people need to know that if they engage in such conduct they will be committing a very serious crime.

Accordingly, this bill will create new offences that apply where a person contaminates goods, threatens to contaminate goods or makes false statements about the contamination of goods and is reckless as to the causing of public alarm or anxiety, of economic loss, or of harm to public health.

These offences will attract a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.

Sabotage

There is also a third change with respect to Australia's sabotage offences contained in this bill. The government recently modernised Australia's sabotage laws to address the unprecedented threats that we now face as a nation. These threats are constantly evolving, and our laws must evolve to keep pace.

These laws currently apply to the sabotage of public infrastructure and carry maximum penalties of between seven and 25 years imprisonment.

Australia's food supply infrastructure is also clearly of critical importance to our national security and the wellbeing of our citizens.

Accordingly, the bill will expand the sabotage offences so that they would cover the sabotage of Australia's food supply, where such conduct is intended to prejudice our national security.

Further action

The bill marks an important step towards ensuring that our food supply infrastructure is afforded the same protection as other pieces of our critical infrastructure.

This work must continue. The issue will be raised with state and territory counterparts to encourage them to strengthen their own laws to ensure a robust, nationally consistent approach to the protection of our food supply.

It is important to remember the human toll this is having on Australian farmers and, indeed, a whole range of participants in the agricultural sector, who are already doing it tough. Helping our farmers and farming communities is a high priority of this government, and we have committed $1 million to deal with the crisis and help get the industry back on its feet.

Conclusion

The events of this week represent large-scale criminality relating to food products in Australia.

Strong action is required to deter and punish those who would target our food supply infrastructure. Their actions hurt the Australian community. They sabotage the livelihoods of growers, communities, towns and whole regions. They unnecessarily frighten people away from enjoying the beautiful, fresh and healthy produce our farmers grow. This bill demonstrates that the government will not stand for it.

It is the first duty of every government to keep its people safe, and we are committed to doing so. This bill takes us a further step down that path, and I commend it to the House.

Leave granted for second reading debate to continue immediately.

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