Summary

Amends the: Crimes Act 1914 to: facilitate the use of video link evidence from overseas witnesses in proceedings for terrorism and other related offences and proceeds of crime proceedings relating to those offences; clarify a constitutional issue regarding the conferral of non-judicial functions and powers on Judges of the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates; facilitate inter-jurisdictional matching of DNA profiles through a national database; and expand the definition of “tape recording”; Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 to rectify an unintended omission; Foreign Evidence Act 1994 to facilitate the use of foreign material, such as video tapes and transcripts of examinations, as evidence in terrorism and related proceedings when video link evidence is not possible; and provide a discretion to prevent foreign material being adduced; Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to: enable payments out of the Confiscated Assets Account to third parties who carry out examinations for the Commonwealth; and rectify the unintended consequence of a regulation change that inadvertently affected the legal status of some examiners; and Surveillance Devices Act 2004 to enable the issue of a warrant to retrieve a tracking device installed under an authorisation.