BILLS › Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015, Australian Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015
Mr KEENAN (Stirling—Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Counter-Terrorism) (18:04): I thank all honourable members for their contribution to the debate on the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill and the Australian Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill. These bills bring two of Australia's most important national law enforcement bodies, CrimTrac and the Australian Crime Commission, together under one banner. In November 2015 the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council, which is made up of all of Australia's attorneys-general and police and justice ministers, decided to pursue a merger of CrimTrac with the ACC. These bills implement the council's important and historic decision. Both agencies' shared national assets reflect the cooperative approach between jurisdictions that are essential to Australia's response to crime. Merging CrimTrac with the ACC continues this government's commitment to ensuring Australian law enforcement agencies are in the best possible position to protect us from criminal and national security threats such as terrorism, international drug trafficking and, increasingly, cybercrime. A merger will enrich the ACC's critical intelligence function with direct access to CrimTrac's national police information holdings and sophisticated information and technology capabilities. This will improve the quality, access and timeliness of the intelligence the merged agency provides to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill contains amendments to give effect to the proposed arrangements for the merged agency. It will amend the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 to enable the merged agency to carry out all of CrimTrac's functions, referred to as the national policing information functions. It will enable the merged agency board to set priorities for the agency's new policing information functions, provide the board with additional functions currently exercised by the CrimTrac board, such as making recommendations to the relevant Commonwealth minister about expenditure from the National Policing Information Systems and Services Special Account, and ensure that the merged agency can continue to share national policing information in the same way as CrimTrac currently does and provide national coordinated criminal history checks to a range of stakeholders. The Australian Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015 will allow the merged agency to impose charges for certain services in order to fund or subsidise the provision of other services to police and the community. The charges bill will allow the merged agency to continue the current model but is flexible enough to allow the agency to charge for new services in the future, should this be necessary or desirable. This flexibility will ensure the business model can adapt to meet emerging police and government needs. These bills implement an important decision of all Australia's attorneys-general, police and justice ministers to effect a merger of CrimTrac and the Australian Crime Commission. The merger will leverage the strengths of these agencies and improve their capability to provide accurate and timely criminal intelligence to law enforcement agencies around the country. The merged agency would also maintain a focus on providing nationally coordinated, high-quality information technology systems and services to Australian police agencies which are critical to supporting their day-to-day operations. I therefore commend the bills to the House. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time. Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.