Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Organised crime is a blight on our society. In the past year in Sydney we have seen drive-by shootings, fire bombings, bikie-gang brawls in broad daylight and, only two weeks ago, an execution in the streets of Cremorne, a suburb better known for its harbour views than its gangland connections. To my Victorian and South Australian colleagues, these events are less remarkable, but, to my fellow New South Welshmen and my colleagues from states who are yet to experience the full brunt of organised criminal activities, these are truly concerning developments. There can be no doubt that the heightened activity of these groups is a danger that we need to counteract with the full force of our legislative powers. I raise this matter not in an attempt to scaremonger but, rather, as a warning.

I want to share with the Senate and the Australian people the experiences of a nation very similar to our own. The Irish struggle with organised crime has received very little attention in our local media. I was lucky enough to have a meeting recently with some Irish Gardai, their police force, who shed some light on their ongoing battle with organised crime groups. As the Gardai have continued to take down figures within these groups it seems that local criminals have taken it upon themselves to unleash an even uglier wave of violence, harassment and intimidation upon each other, and potential threats to witnesses and jurors and even innocent bystanders.

The Gardai I met shared horror stories about the family and friends of jurors and witnesses in gangland trials being gunned down in an effort to coerce them into not giving evidence or making findings of guilt. The story of Ray Collins, a 34-year-old father of two, is just one such example. The Gardai believe that Mr Collins was murdered in retaliation for a member of his family giving evidence against a gang leader. As if that were not horrific enough, the testimony in question was given four years before Mr Collins was murdered. These thugs have no hesitation in taking names now and squaring up later. The passage of time in itself sends a chilling message to any prospective juror or witness, ‘Cross us and you can expect us to hurt people close to you—maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will happen.’ I was told that in one case 250 notices were sent out to people to attend for jury service and only nine people turned up.

Gangland violence in the streets of Dublin had become completely out of control. By mid-June this year, there had already been 15 gangland related murders in Dublin. In July, the Deputy Leader of the Irish Labour Party, Joan Burton, had this to say on the state of affairs in Dublin:

There is an unprecedented spate of killings and murders going on in Dublin and on the fringes of the west and the northside of Dublin, which is resulting in a huge loss of human life. People are being gunned down in ways that are reminiscent of Al Capone days in Chicago.

The public living in all of these areas, including in my own constituency, feel utterly helpless.

The Irish had had enough. In this climate, the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Dermot Ahern, introduced the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009. This bill made some significant changes to the conduct of organised crime trials. It provided for organised crime offences to be tried in a special criminal court, without a jury, following concerns about jury tampering. This provision was strongly endorsed by former High Court judge, Justice Fergus Flood, who openly doubted the usefulness of the juries in gangland trials.

Further, this bill created a new offence of directing or controlling a criminal organisation, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, an amended offence relating to participation or involvement in organised crime, with a penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment, and provides:

Organised crime offences will in general attract higher sentences than the same offences committed by individuals, although the maximum permissible sentence will not be exceeded.

It also allows for the admissibility of the Gardai opinion evidence on the existence and operations of criminal gangs and allows the court to draw adverse inferences from failure to answer questions and failure to account for movements, actions, activities or associations in the context of organised crime offences. Finally, it increases the penalty for intimidation of witnesses or jurors from 10 to 15 years imprisonment and allows the Gardai to detain organised crime suspects for questioning for up to seven days in certain circumstances.

As one would expect, the bill was heavily criticised by civil liberties groups but ultimately passed with an overwhelming majority. President Mary McAleese signed the bill into law on 23 July 2009. Within days of this law being passed, well-known gang leader, Freddie Thomson, Limerick drug dealer, Christy Keane, and a number of other gang leaders fled to Spain for fear of the new offences and the risk of facing the judiciary rather than a tamperable jury, according to reports by Jim Cusack in The Independent and Owen Conlon and Joanne McElgunn in The Sun. A source in Conlon and McElgunn’s report had this to say:

Keane scarpered to Tenerife and he’s told people the move is permanent. Cops suspect he was behind the drugs haul and he’s afraid sources will finger him for it and that he’ll end up in the Special Criminal Court. Two leading members of the Collopy gang have also fled to Spain. They’re all shit scared.

This legislation has been in operation for less than two months, but when the perpetrators are fleeing you know that you are onto something effective. However draconian and undesirable these laws may have been, they are working.

In Australia we are not quite at the point that Ireland was several months ago, but our organised crime situation is worsening by the day. We do not want to get into a situation where laws like the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill are necessary, but in order to avoid this situation we need to act swiftly and decisively to stamp out organised criminal activity. That is why I am pleased that the government has introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious and Organised Crime) Bill (No. 2) 2009.

Senators in this place do not need to be told what a growing concern organised crime is becoming in Australia. This bill is a proportionate response to that threat. It is, I hope, going to form a firewall of sorts to insulate the Australian community from problems like those faced by the Irish community, who waited too long before confronting their gang bosses with tough legislative powers. This bill will implement part of the national response to the threat of serious and organised crime as agreed to by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. By strengthening criminal assets confiscation and inserting unexplained wealth provisions, the bill will enable law enforcement to follow the money trail and remove the financial incentive for involvement in organised crime. This is a subject that I have raised at length in previous contributions and I am extremely pleased to see action being taken in this area. These provisions will permit a court to confiscate a person’s wealth if the person is unable to demonstrate that the wealth was not derived from offences within Commonwealth constitutional power. It reverses the onus of proof, requiring an individual to demonstrate that their cash and assets were obtained through legitimate means or risk the cash and assets being confiscated.

To those who are unfamiliar with the debate, this is not a particularly radical development. The Western Australian and Northern Territory jurisdictions already have similar schemes in force, and I would urge other states and the Australian Capital Territory to follow suit. It is measures like these that will discourage international operators from setting up bases of operation in Australia. Why would a transnational drug operation risk setting up in a jurisdiction where their assets could be seized unless they show a legitimate source? By targeting the money there can be little doubt that we remove the incentive for local involvement in organised criminal behaviour. On top of this critical measure, the bill will introduce model investigative powers for controlled operations, assumed identities and witness identity protection in order to enhance the ability of police to undertake undercover investigations to target organised crime. These measures are part of the ongoing need to revise our legal processes to adapt to the prevailing conditions and circumstances of the battle against criminal activity. Criminals are adjusting to the way law enforcement operates and now it is necessary to shift our methods and protections in order to stay one step ahead.

This bill, in my view, represents a strong, determined, coordinated response to the changing nature of organised crime and its manifestations within Australia. It is only through legislative measures like these and continual revisions and amendments to adapt to developing trends that we can keep our head above water in this fight and, in doing so, avoid ending up in a position that nations like Ireland find themselves.

There is no doubt that we need to cut the oxygen supply to Australian organised crime bosses and remove any financial incentives by confiscating their assets and the assets of their cronies. We need strong monitoring so that we can detect and confiscate the proceeds of crime. We need to show them that this nation does not take kindly to the activities of thugs, thieves, drug dealers and money launderers within its borders. But, most importantly, we need to show them that, as a parliament, we are united and determined to do whatever it takes to maintain law and order and to ensure the safety of law-abiding Australian citizens.