Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

For the record, the government will take on board Senator Stott Despoja’s comments. There are some other difficulties in relation to the categorisation of offences. Work is being done in relation to the annual reporting. I was not implying that Senator Stott Despoja’s amendments were necessarily a ‘how to’ guide for criminals; all I was doing was alluding to the potential problems you can get when divulging information which, on the face of it, might seem quite innocuous and when compiled with other information can lead to a very good snapshot of how law enforcement operates.

We are working on the reporting arrangements. As I have said, we will continue to consider the committee’s reports. The concerns that Senator Stott Despoja raised will be taken on board during the course of those considerations.

Question negatived.