Bills Digest no. 130 2005–06
Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner (Consequential
Amendments) Bill 2006
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Law Enforcement Integrity
Commissioner (Consequential Amendments) Bill
2006
Date introduced: 29 March 2006
House: House of
Representatives
Portfolio: Attorney-General
Commencement: Most items commence at the same time as section 3 of
the proposed Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 (ie 6
months after that Act receives Royal Assent or on proclamation,
whichever occurs first).
The Bill s main purpose is to
enable the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity
(ACLEI) to exercise coercive and information gathering powers under
a variety of Commonwealth statutes. These include the ability to
intercept telecommunications, use surveillance devices, conduct
controlled operations and use assumed identities.
The Bill is part of a package of three Bills. The other Bills
are:
- the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Bill 2006 ( LEIC
Bill ), and
- the Law Enforcement (AFP Professional Standards and Related
Measures) Bill 2006 ( AFP Professional Standards Bill ).
The LEIC Bill creates the office of Law Enforcement Integrity
Commissioner and establishes ACLEI. The Commissioner has
royal-commission powers to investigate corruption in the Australian
Federal Police ( AFP ), the Australian Crime Commission ( ACC ),
the former National Crime Authority and prescribed law enforcement
agencies. The Bill also provides procedures for the investigation
of complaints against the ACLEI and establishes a parliamentary
joint committee to monitor ACLEI s operations.
Background information about the LEIC Bill can be found in Bills
Digest No. 131, 2005 06.
The Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act
1977 ( ADJR Act ) enables the Federal Court and the
Federal Magistrates Court to review Commonwealth administrative
action. In general, a person entitled to seek a review can obtain
written reasons for the decision in question. Exceptions to this
right include classes of decisions listed in Schedule 2 of the Act.
These include decisions relating to extradition, certain decisions
under the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil
Proceedings) Act 2004, decisions relating to intelligence
operations under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002,
and decisions relating to the administration of criminal
justice.
Item 1 adds decisions under the proposed Law
Enforcement Integrity Commission Act 2006 in connection with a
corruption investigation or a public inquiry to the list of
decisions in Schedule 2 of the ADJR Act. The Integrity Commissioner
will not have to provide reasons for those decisions to a potential
applicant for judicial review.
Under the Archives Act 1983, the National Archives has
the custody and management of Commonwealth records. The Archives Act establishes an open access
period whereby records must be made publicly available after
reaching 30 years of age unless exempted. Section 33 of the
Archives Act lists a number of exemption categories including
information that could damage national security, constitute a
breach of confidence, or prejudice a criminal investigation. If a
record or part of a record falls within one of these categories a
decision may be made to exempt it from public access.
Item 2 makes any confidential information
supplied to the Integrity Commissioner, staff of the ACLEI or a
special investigator an exempt record under the Archives
Act.(1)
Section 54 of the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002
imposes secrecy obligations on the CEO of the ACC, Board members,
staff and examiners. If such people disclose information except for
the purposes of a relevant Act or otherwise with the performance of
[their] .. duties under a relevant Act , they are guilty of a
criminal offence. Item 3 will permit the
disclosure of information to the ALCEI by making the proposed Law
Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 and any regulations
made under it a relevant Act.
Section 60A of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979
imposes secrecy obligations on the AFP Commissioner, Deputy
Commissioners and staff. With certain exceptions, such as
disclosures made for the purposes of the Australian Federal Police
Act and disclosures for the purposes of the Witness Protection
Act 1994, disclosures by such officers attract criminal
penalties. Items 4 and 5 will allow disclosures to
be made for the purposes of the proposed Law Enforcement Integrity
Commissioner Act and any regulations made under it.
Section 18 of the Australian Security Intelligence
Organisation Act 1979 provides that the unauthorised
communication of intelligence by ASIO officers is a criminal
offence. Exceptions to this general rule include the communication
of information relating to an indictable offence to the police or
the Australian Crime Commission. Items 6 and 7
will also allow information to be communicated to the Integrity
Commissioner, ACLEI staff or a special investigator.
The Crimes Act 1914 contains a regime for controlled
operations. A controlled operation is an operation carried out to
obtain evidence of the commission of a serious Commonwealth
offence. It may involve a law enforcement officer engaging in
conduct that would otherwise be illegal. Section 15M of the Crimes
Act provides for controlled operations certificates. Controlled
operations must be authorised by an authorising officer who issues
a certificate under section 15M of the Crimes Act. At present, the
AFP Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners and AFP authorising officers
can authorise AFP controlled operations.(2) ACC
authorising officers can authorise ACC controlled operations. If a
controlled operations certificate is in force then participating
law enforcement officers are shielded from any criminal liability
that would otherwise attach to their actions.
Items 17 and 18 enable an ACLEI authorising
officer to authorise a controlled operation relating to the
investigation of corruption issue that involves a serious
Commonwealth offence. ACLEI authorising officers are:
- the Integrity Commissioner
- an Assistant Integrity Commissioner
- SES level ACLEI staff who are appropriately authorised by the
Commissioner.(3)
Item 20 enables a certificate authorising a
controlled operation to be terminated by an ACLEI authorising
officer. Items 21 and 22 make consequential
amendments to the termination provision.
Item 23 amends a provision in the Crimes Act
which requires the CEO of Customs to be notified if a controlled
operation will involve goods dealt with by the Australian Customs
Service (ACS). As is the case with the AFP and the ACC, an ACLEI
authorising officer will be required to notify the ACS if an ACLEI
controlled operation involves goods that will be dealt with by the
ACS.
The Crimes Act imposes a number of reporting requirements in
relation to controlled operations. For example, the AFP
Commissioner and the CEO of the ACC must give the Minister
quarterly reports about
- each decision made to grant or refuse an application for a
controlled operation
- variations, reviews and terminations of controlled operations
certificates, and
- each certificate that is still in force at the end of the
quarter.
Item 24 places the same reporting obligations
on the Integrity Commissioner.
The Crimes Act also empowers the Ombudsman to monitor controlled
operations. The AFP Commissioner and the CEO of the ACC must give
the Ombudsman a copy of the quarterly report to the Minister and
any additional information that is requested. The Ombudsman must
also inspect AFP and ACC records at least once in every 12 month
period to ensure that the statutory regime is being complied with.
Item 27 requires the Integrity Commissioner to
give the Ombudsman a copy of the quarterly report that is made to
the Minister. Item 28 empowers the Ombudsman to
obtain additional information about ACLEI controlled operations
certificates. Item 29 requires the Ombudsman to
inspect the records of the Integrity Commissioner in relation to
ACLEI controlled operations at least once every 12 months.
Section 15T of the Crimes Act requires the Minister to make an
annual controlled operations report to Parliament. Information must
be excluded from the report if, following advice from the AFP
Commissioner or the CEO of the ACC, the Minister considers it would
endanger a person s safety or prejudice an investigation or
prosecution. Item 25 will enable information to be
excluded following advice from the Integrity Commissioner.
Section 15U of the Crimes Act provides that in a prosecution for
a serious Commonwealth offence, a section 15M certificate is
conclusive evidence that the authorising officer was satisfied that
the statutory requirements for issuing a certificate were met. A
document that is certified by the AFP Commissioner or CEO of the
ACC to be a true copy of a section 15M certificate can be tendered
as if it were the original. Item 26 provides that
copies of section 15M certificates certified as true copies by the
Integrity Commissioner can also be tendered in evidence as if they
were originals.
The Crimes Act enables officers from certain Commonwealth and
State agencies such as the AFP, the ACC, ASIO, State police forces
and State anti-corruption agencies to acquire and use assumed (ie
false) identities. If appropriately authorised, these agencies can
request assumed identity documents from Commonwealth, State and
Territory issuing agencies. Such documents might include passports,
Medicare cards, birth certificates and drivers licences.
Item 30 enables ACLEI staff to acquire and use
assumed identities in accordance with the statutory regime in the
Crimes Act.
The Crimes Act contains a spent convictions scheme. This means
that where a person s conviction of a Commonwealth offence is spent
, they are not required to disclose their conviction (for instance,
for employment purposes) and a criminal record check will not
reveal that conviction.(4) There are certain exceptions
to these general rules. For instance, information can be disclosed
to or by a law enforcement agency in making decisions about
prosecutions or employment. Staff of law enforcement agencies can
also exchange information about spent convictions in the course of
their duties.
Item 31 adds the ACLEI to the list of law
enforcement agencies in section 85ZL of the Crimes Act. This will
enable ACLEI staff to disclose, record, use or take account of
information about spent convictions in the performance of their
duties.
Section 147.1 of the Criminal Code contains offences of causing
harm to Commonwealth public officials. Increased penalties apply in
relation to certain categories of Commonwealth public official,
such as Commonwealth law enforcement officers. Item
32 amends the definition of Commonwealth law enforcement
officer in section 146.1 of the Criminal Code so that it includes
the Integrity Commissioner and staff of the ACLEI.
The Financial Transactions Reports Act 1988 ( FTR Act )
enables AUSTRAC to collect financial transactions reports ( FTR )
information for analysis and dissemination to its partner agencies.
Partner agencies include Commonwealth, State and Territory police,
ACC, Australian Customs Service, the Australian Taxation Office,
the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIO,
Centrelink, and State anti-corruption agencies. The FTR information
that AUSTRAC collects relates to:
- suspect transactions where it is suspected that the transaction
may be relevant to investigations of criminal offences or where the
transaction may assist in enforcing the Proceeds of Crime Act
2002
- significant cash transactions that is, any transaction
involving a cash component of A$10,000 or the foreign currency
equivalent.(5)
The purpose of collecting, analysing and disseminating FTR
information is to identify money laundering, major crime and tax
evasion.
Items 35 and 36 give the Integrity Commissioner
and ACLEI staff the same powers as the AFP Commissioner and AFP
members to investigate and receive FTR information. Item
37 enables ACLEI staff to give FTR information to the
Integrity Commissioner without breaching the secrecy provisions of
the FTR Act. Item 38 enables the Integrity
Commissioner and ACLEI staff to communicate FTR information in the
same limited circumstance that currently apply to the CEO of the
ACC and ACC staff.
The functions of the Commonwealth Ombudsman include
investigating complaints and conducting own motion investigations
about the administrative actions of Australian Government officials
and agencies. Such investigations examine whether the
administrative action is unlawful, unreasonable, unjust,
oppressive, discriminatory, factually deficient or otherwise wrong.
After completing an investigation, the Ombudsman can recommend that
the agency take remedial action.(6)
Paragraph 5(2)(b) of the Ombudsman Act 1976 provides
that the Ombudsman cannot investigate the actions of a judge. The
LEIC Bill provides that judges may be appointed to the positions of
Integrity Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner. Item
41 clarifies that judicial appointment in these cases does
not prevent the Ombudsman investigating the actions of the
Integrity Commissioner or Assistant Commissioners.
Item 42 specifies how the Ombudsman deals with
a complaint that involves a corruption issue that could have been
referred to the Integrity Commissioner:
- in the case of a corruption issue that is not a significant
corruption issue , the Ombudsman may decide not to investigate the
complaint and refer it to the Integrity Commissioner
- in the case of a significant corruption issue , the Ombudsman
must not investigate the complaint and must refer it to the
Integrity Commissioner.
Where the Ombudsman refers a complaint to the Integrity
Commissioner, this must be done as soon as reasonably practicable,
relevant information must be passed on and the complainant notified
in writing.
The terms corruption issue and significant corruption issue are
defined with reference to the proposed Law Enforcement Integrity
Commissioner Act 2006.
Item 43 enables the Ombudsman to transfer
complaints about the Integrity Commissioner to another
Commonwealth, State or Territory authority if the complaint could
be more conveniently or effectively dealt with by that authority.
Once again, this must be done as soon as reasonably practicable,
relevant information must be passed on and the complainant notified
in writing. A similar provision exists in the Ombudsman Act in
relation to complaints about the ACC (section 6A).
Item 44 enables the Ombudsman to enter into
arrangements with another Commonwealth, State or Territory
authority for that authority to investigate the actions of the
Integrity Commissioner or ACLEI staff. Regulations may provide for
the Ombudsman to participate in such an investigation. A similar
provision exists in the Ombudsman Act in relation to the ACC
(section 8B).
Section 9 of the Ombudsman Act empowers the Ombudsman to obtain
information and documents that are relevant to an investigation
being conducted by his or her office. There are a number of
exceptions to this general rule for instance, if the
Attorney-General certifies that disclosure would prejudice national
security or reveal Cabinet or Executive Council deliberations.
Item 45 enables the Attorney-General to prevent
disclosure of ACLEI records to the Ombudsman if doing so would
endanger human life or create a risk of serious injury to a person.
This provision mirrors existing paragraph 9(3)(e) of the Ombudsman
Act, which relates to the ACC.
Item 47 enables the Attorney-General to prevent
the Ombudsman disclosing ACLEI information by certifying that
disclosure would be contrary to the public interest because it
would prejudice the safety of a person, the fair trial of a person,
the proper performance of the Integrity Commissioner s functions or
the operations of a law enforcement agency. This provision mirrors
existing section 35B, which relates to the ACC. ACLEI information
is widely defined as information or the contents of a document that
is or was in the possession or control of the Integrity
Commissioner.
The Privacy Act 1988 protects personal information held
by federal agencies, large private sector organisations, private
sector health service providers and others. It also protects credit
worthiness information held by credit reporting agencies and credit
providers.
Item 48 adds the Integrity Commissioner to the
definition of enforcement body in the Privacy Act. This means that
personal information can be disclosed to the Integrity Commissioner
in specified circumstances for example, in order to prevent,
detect, investigate or prosecute criminal offences.
Paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Privacy Act provides that references in
the Act to an act or a practice are to be read as a reference to an
act or practice of an agency. The words, an act or a practice are
relevant in a number of contexts. For instance, the Act enables the
Privacy Commissioner to investigate acts or practices that may
interfere with personal privacy. The effect of item
50 is that references to an act or a practice cannot be
read as including acts or practices of the Integrity Commissioner.
Item 51 has a similar effect.
Subsection 18K(5) of the Privacy Act provides that where a
credit reporting agency discloses personal information contained in
a person s credit information file, it must make a file note of
that disclosure. Subsection 18K(5) is followed by a note
stating:
A credit reporting agency must not include a note
about the disclosure of information in a file if a notation has
been made on a summons, or a notice, relating to the disclosure of
the information and the notation has not been cancelled (see
section 29A of the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002)
Item 52 amends the note that follows section
18K to include a reference to the proposed Law Enforcement
Integrity Commissioner Act 2002. As is the case with the ACC, the
Integrity Commissioner can include a non-disclosure notation on a
summons. This prevents a person disclosing information about the
summons or investigations or proceedings associated with the
summons.
Section 70 of the Privacy Act prevents information being given
to the Privacy Commissioner if the Attorney-General certifies that
it would be contrary to the public interest on grounds which
include prejudice to national security or to the operational
methods or investigative practices of law enforcement agencies.
Item 53 enables the Attorney-General to prevent
information being given to the Privacy Commissioner on the ground
that it would prejudice the proper performance of the Integrity
Commissioner s functions.
The objects of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 include
depriving offenders of the proceeds of their crimes, preventing the
reinvestment of those proceeds into further criminal activities and
punishing offenders and deterring them from breaching Commonwealth
laws.
Section 213 of the Proceeds of Crime Act enables certain
Commonwealth officers to issue notices requiring financial
institutions to provide information about accounts and
transactions. Such notices can be issued in order to decide whether
to take action under the Act or in relation to proceedings under
the Act. Officers who currently can issue a notice are the AFP
Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner, an SES level AFP employee,
the CEO of the ACC or an ACC examiner. Item 54
adds the Integrity Commissioner to this list.
Item 55 adds the Integrity Commissioner,
Assistant Integrity Commissioners and authorised ACLEI staff
members to the definition of authorised officer in the Proceeds of
Crime Act. Authorised officers exercise a range of powers and
functions under the Proceeds of Crime Act. For example, they can
obtain search warrants. And, any application for a restraining
order on a person s property must be accompanied by an affidavit
from an authorised officer setting out his or her suspicion that
that property constitutes proceeds of crime.
One of the purposes of the Radiocommunications Act is
1992 to manage the radiofrequency spectrum in order to enable
national security, defence, law enforcement and emergency service
agencies to use the spectrum. Section 27 of the Radiocommunications
Act enables the Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA) to determine that particular agencies can access the
radiofrequency spectrum without a licence or being subject to
restricted zone use.
Item 56 adds the Integrity Commissioner to the
list of agencies that be the subject of an ACMA determination.
If a royal commission obtains information relating to a
contravention of a Commonwealth, State or Territory law, that
information can be passed on to a number of bodies including the
relevant Commonwealth, State or Territory Attorney-General; the
Director of Public Prosecutions; or a police commissioner
(subsection 6P(1), Royal Commissions Act 1902).
Information relating to the ACC may also be passed on to the ACC s
CEO (subsection 6P(2A). Item 58 inserts a similar
provision in relation to the ACLEI.
The Surveillance Devices Act 2004 contains a regime
governing the use of surveillance devices by the AFP, the ACC,
State and Territory police forces and anti-corruption agencies when
they are investigating Commonwealth offences or State offences with
a federal aspect which carry a maximum penalty of at least three
years imprisonment. Surveillance devices include data surveillance
devices, optical surveillance devices, listening devices and
tracking devices.(7)
Item 68 will allow ACLEI staff and secondees to
use an optical surveillance device without a warrant so long as use
of such a device does not involve entry onto premises without
permission or interference with a vehicle without permission.
Officers from the AFP, ACC and other agencies can also use optical
surveillance devices in this way.
The Surveillance Devices Act enables listening and recording
devices to be used by officers from the AFP, ACC and other agencies
without a warrant if the officer is a party to the conversation or
if the officer has the consent of a person who is permitted to
listen to or record the words. Item 69 gives the
same power to ACLEI staff.
Section 64 of the Surveillance Devices Act enables a person who
suffers injury or loss as a result of the unlawful use by the AFP
or ACC of a surveillance device, to claim damages from the
Commonwealth. The effect of item 70 is that a
person will also be able to seek damages for injury or loss as a
result of the unlawful use of a surveillance device by the
Integrity Commissioner and ACLEI staff.
The Telecommunications Act 1997 makes it an offence to
disclose or use information relating to the contents of a
telecommunication, details of carriage services provided to a
person (such as telephone numbers called by a person) or the
personal particulars of a person (including addresses and unlisted
telephone numbers).(8)
There are some exceptions to this general prohibition. For
example, a carrier or carriage service provider can release
information such as billing records and personal particulars to a
criminal law-enforcement agency if the agency certifies that the
disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the
criminal law.(9) Criminal law-enforcement agencies
currently include the AFP, State and Territory police services, the
ACC, NSW Crime Commission, NSW Independent Commission Against
Corruption and the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Items 73-75 add the ACLEI to this list.
Note that the contents or substance of a telecommunication
cannot be disclosed under these provisions see subsection 282(6).
Such information can only be obtained under a Telecommunications
(Interception) Act warrant.
The Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 ( TI Act
) enables ASIO and certain Commonwealth, State and Northern
Territory law enforcement agencies to apply for and obtain warrants
to intercept telecommunications.(10) These agencies can
also lawfully access stored communications, such as voicemail,
email and SMS messages. Amendments to the TI Act enable the ACLEI
to apply for and obtain warrants to intercept telecommunications.
The ACLEI will also be able to access stored communications
(items 76-85, 88-90).
Among the accountability provisions in the TI Act are
record-keeping requirements for agencies empowered to intercept
telecommunications under warrant (section 80). Item
93 requires the Integrity Commissioner to keep certain
records including each warrant issued to the ACLEI, each instrument
revoking a warrant, and authorisations given to ACLEI staff to
receive information obtained by interceptions.(11)
Other record-keeping requirements are imposed by section 81 of
the TI Act. These include particulars of telephone applications for
TI warrants, whether applications for warrants were refused or
granted, particulars of each warrant, the duration of each
interception etc. Item 94 amends section 81 so
that these obligations will also apply to the Integrity
Commissioner.(12)
As well as containing a general prohibition on the interception
of telecommunications (subject to exceptions, such as interception
under a warrant), the TI Act also generally prohibits information
obtained from intercepts being disclosed. There are a various
exceptions to this general prohibition. For instance:
- section 68 of the TI Act enables the chief officer of an agency
that has lawfully intercepted information, to pass that information
on to certain other agencies. Item 91 enables
information that relates to a corruption issue or an ACLEI
corruption issue to be passed on to the Integrity Commissioner. The
terms corruption issue and ACLEI corruption issue are defined in
the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Bill
2006.(13)
- section 71 of the TI Act enables a person to advise the
Attorney-General, Director of Public Prosecutions, AFP Commissioner
or CEO of the ACC if they suspect that an offence of unlawfully
intercepting telecommunications has been committed. Item
92 will also enable the Integrity Commissioner to be
advised of such an offence.
- section 140 of the TI Act enables a person to communicate
information obtained by accessing a stored communication to the
Attorney-General, Director of Public Prosecutions, the AFP
Commissioner or the CEO of the ACC if the person suspects on
reasonable grounds that the information may tend to establish that
certain offences have been committed.(14) Item
96 enables this information to be passed on to the
Integrity Commissioner.
Items 86 and 87 make general amendments to the
TI Act. They add to the list of what are currently called
class 2 offences and what will be called serious offences
when the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act
2006 commences. Interception warrants can be issued in
relation to these offences. The new offences include theft from a
Commonwealth entity, abuse of public office, giving false
testimony, perverting the course of justice, aiding a prisoner to
escape and escaping.
If section 3 of the proposed Law Enforcement Integrity
Commissioner Act 2006 does not commence by 1 July 2006, then
item 86 will not commence at all. This is because
1 July 2006 is the date that Schedule 4 of the
Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 2006
commences. Schedule 4 abolishes the current classification of TI
Act offences as class 1 and class 2 offences and replaces them with
one category, called serious offences. Item 87
commences immediately after the commencement of Schedule 4 of the
Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 2006.
Concluding comments
The Consequential Amendments Bill, together with the LEIC Bill
and the AFP Professional Standards Bill, was referred to the Senate
Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. The Committee
reported on 11 May 2006. Two of the Committee s recommendations
relate to the Consequential Amendments Bill:
The Ombudsman can investigate the administrative actions of
Commonwealth agencies either as the result of a complaint
or on his or her own initiative.
Item 42 of Schedule 1 amends
section 6 of the Ombudsman Act and thus enables the Ombudsman to
transfer a complaint involving a corruption issue to the
Integrity Commissioner.
The Senate Committee heard evidence from the Deputy Commonwealth
Ombudsman that the Consequential Amendments Bill should be amended
to ensure that corruption issues that become apparent through not
only complaint investigations, but also own motion investigations
by the Ombudsman, may be referred to ACLEI. The Senate Committee
endorsed this view in recommendation 7 of its report.
The Committee also recommended that the Bill be amended to
provide greater clarity in relation to ACLEI s obligations to
notify the Commonwealth Ombudsman of information relating to
matters referred by the Ombudsman (recommendation 8). In evidence
before the Committee, the Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman said that,
as drafted, the Consequential Amendments Bill would require the
Ombudsman to commence an investigation in order to seek this
information.
The Senate Committee s report remarks:
In relation to this concern, the
Attorney-General's Department noted that the Consequential
Amendments Bill was not intended to leave the Ombudsman in a
position where it could not receive information without initiating
an investigation of its own. As such, this matter would be
considered for possible amendments.(15)
- A special investigator is a person appointed by the Minister
under the proposed Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act to
investigate an allegation of corruption within the ACLEI.
- Authorisations must be obtained from the AFP Commissioner or a
Deputy Commissioner in the case of major controlled operations.
Authorisations can be obtained from AFP authorising officers in the
case of controlled operations that are not major operations.
- The term, corruption issue is defined in clause 7 of the LEIC
Bill. It means an issue whether current or former staff of a law
enforcement agency had, are or will engage in corrupt conduct .
Corrupt conduct is conduct involving abuse of office, perverting
the course of justice or corruption of any other kind.
- Under the Crimes Act, a person s conviction will only become
spent if they were sentenced to no more than 30 months
imprisonment. In the case of adults there is a 10 year waiting
period before such a conviction becomes spent.
- AUSTRAC, Annual Report 2004-05, p. 15.
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, Annual Report 2004-2005, p.
8.
- Surveillance Devices Act 2004, Report for the Year
Ending 30 June 2004. In the period to 30 June 2005,
surveillance device warrants could be obtained by the AFP, ACC, NSW
Police, NSW Crime Commission, NSW Independent Commission Against
Corruption, NSW Police Integrity Commission, Queensland Crime and
Misconduct Commission, Queensland Police, South Australian Police,
Victoria Police, Western Australian Police, Western Australian
Crime and Corruption Commission, Tasmanian Police and Northern
Territory Police.
- Section 276, Telecommunications Act.
- Section 282, Telecommunications Act.
- As at 30 June 2005, the following law enforcement agencies
could obtain telecommunications interception warrants: AFP, ACC,
Victoria Police, NSW Crime Commission, NSW Police, NSW Independent
Commission Against Corruption, South Australia Police, Western
Australia Police Service, NSW Police Integrity Commission, Western
Australian Corruption and Crime Commission, Tasmania Police.
- Item 93 will not commence if Schedule 5 of the
Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 2006 commences
before the commencement of section 3 of the proposed Law
Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006.
- Item 94 will not commence if Schedule 5 of the
Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 2006 commences
before the commencement of section 3 of the proposed Law
Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006.
- For the definition of corruption issue , see endnote 3. An
ACLEI corruption issue is an issue of whether a current or former
staff member of the ACLEI has, is or will engage in corrupt conduct
(clause 8, LEIC Bill).
- These offences are: contravening the prohibition against access
to stored communications and contravening the prohibition against
communicating accessed information.
- Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee,
Report. Provisions of: Law Enforcement Integrity
Commissioner Bill 2006; Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner
(Consequential Amendments) Bill 2006; and Law
Enforcement (AFP Professional Standards and Related Measures)
Bill 2006, para. 3.102. The report can be accessed
at:
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/legcon_ctte/aclei/report/index.htm
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ISSN 1328-8091
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