Bills Digest no. 73 2015–16
PDF version [601KB]
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.
Cat Barker
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Section
1 February 2016
Contents
Purpose
of the Bills
Background
Committee consideration
Policy position of non-government parties/independents
Position of major interest groups
Financial implications
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Key issues and provisions
Concluding comments
Date
introduced: 3 December 2015
House: House of
Representatives
Portfolio: Justice
Commencement: A
single day to be fixed by Proclamation or 1 July 2016, whichever is the
earlier.
Links: The links to the Bills,
their Explanatory Memoranda and second reading speeches can be found on the
home pages for the Australian
Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015 and
the Australian
Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015, or
through the Australian
Parliament website.
When Bills have been passed and have received Royal Assent, they
become Acts, which can be found at the ComLaw
website.
The purpose of the Australian Crime Commission Amendment
(National Policing Information) Bill 2015 (the Consolidation Bill) is to
amend the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (the ACC Act) to
merge CrimTrac and its functions into the Australian Crime Commission, and make
consequential amendments to other Acts.[1]
The purpose of the Australian Crime Commission (National
Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015 (the Charges Bill) is to provide
a legislative basis for the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) to charge for
national policing information services.
CrimTrac
CrimTrac was established in 2000 under an Intergovernmental
Agreement (IGA) between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to
‘enhance Australian law enforcement with an emphasis on information‑based
policing facilitated through rapid access to detailed, current and accurate
police information’.[2]
The services CrimTrac provides include the
National Police Checking Service (criminal history checking), the National
Child Offender System (comprising the Australian National Child Offender
Register and the Managed Person System), the National Police Reference System
and the National Firearms Identification Database.[3]
By providing access to information collated from police records around the
country, CrimTrac aims to minimise opportunities for people to evade laws by
crossing state borders.
The IGA establishes the broad objectives of
CrimTrac and a Board of Management with representation from all jurisdictions.
The agency is a ‘joint venture partnership’ between the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s
Department (AGD) and the state and federal police agencies.[4]
In accordance with the IGA, it is established as an executive agency within the
Attorney-General’s portfolio.[5]
The Minister for Justice stated the merged agency would be supported by a new
IGA.[6]
CrimTrac is headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO; currently
Nicole Rose) and as at June 2015, had 207 employees.[7]
The agency operates under a self-funded model whereby most of its revenue is
derived from charges paid by police and certain other agencies for its National
Police Checking Service.[8]
The charges are paid into the National Policing Information Systems and
Services Special Account and used towards operating expenses and police
information services to all jurisdictions.[9]
Australian Crime Commission
The Australian Crime Commission (ACC)
commenced as Australia’s national criminal intelligence agency in 2003,
replacing the National Crime Authority (NCA), the Australian Bureau of Criminal
Intelligence and the Office of Strategic Crime Assessments.[10]
It has a specific focus on serious and organised crime of national
significance.[11]
The ACC’s
main functions, as set out in the ACC Act, are to:
-
collect, correlate, analyse and disseminate criminal information
and intelligence and to maintain it in a national database
-
undertake intelligence operations
-
investigate matters relating to ‘federally relevant criminal
activity’ (where relevant criminal activity is serious and organised crime or
Indigenous violence or child abuse) and
-
report on the outcomes of its operations and investigations and
provide criminal information and intelligence to the ACC Board.[12]
Operations and investigations must be
approved by the ACC Board, which also determines whether the operation or
investigation is a ‘special’ operation or investigation, in which the ACC’s
coercive powers (broadly equivalent to those of a Royal Commission) may be
used.[13]
The ACC is a statutory agency within the
Attorney-General’s portfolio.[14]
It is headed by a CEO (currently Chris Dawson) and as at June 2015, had a staff
of 581, plus 36 secondees from other Commonwealth agencies and state and
territory law enforcement agencies.[15]
The ACC Board includes the heads of the state and territory police agencies,
and reports to an Inter-Governmental Committee comprising the Commonwealth
Minister for Justice and a minister from each state and territory.[16]
Merger of CrimTrac into the ACC
The 2014 Commission of Audit considered whether agencies
responsible for criminal intelligence and information should be merged. It concluded
the agencies were working effectively together, but recommended CrimTrac be
merged with the ACC ‘to better harness their collective resources’ and ‘better
support law enforcement operations by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and
other Commonwealth and State agencies’.[17]
The Commission of Audit noted that implementing its recommendation would
require consultation with state and territory governments, stating: ‘It is
critical that their interests are reflected, including through the continued
representation of the State police commissioners on the Australian Crime
Commission board’.[18]
The Commonwealth consulted state and territory governments
through the ACC and CrimTrac boards on options to ‘improve collaboration’
between the two agencies.[19]
In November 2015, the Law, Crime, and Community Safety Council, comprising
justice ministers from all Australian jurisdictions, agreed to the Commonwealth
taking the necessary steps to merge CrimTrac and the ACC.[20]
The Minister for Justice, to whom both agencies are responsible, stated:
State and Territory Attorneys-General and Police Ministers
gave historic in-principle agreement to embrace the new national security
measure that will see CrimTrac IT specialists work side by side with the ACC’s
top intelligence analysts to pursue and undermine evolving national security
threats.
...
With today’s agreement from each jurisdiction, the
Commonwealth will work towards getting the newly merged agency up and running
by 1 July 2016. This will ensure that each jurisdiction has sufficient time to
make the necessary legislative changes.
This merger is vital because our law enforcement and
protection agencies need accurate information and intelligence to respond to
immediate threats.
In this security landscape we must provide ample and instant
information that identifies the patterns and associations that can help detect
and disrupt significant threats.[21]
He also reportedly stated that the merger ‘is not about
cutting the costs or the personnel of either agency’.[22]
The Consolidation Bill will provide the necessary
legislative framework to implement the merger.
The Bills follow the introduction of the Australian Crime
Commission Amendment (Criminology Research) Bill 2015 in October 2015.[23]
That Bill, which was before the Senate as at the date of publication of this Bills
Digest, would merge the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) into the ACC.[24]
That merger was not recommended by the Commission of Audit, which suggested
consideration be given to relocating the AIC to a university.[25]
The Senate Standing Committee for Selection of Bills deferred
its consideration of the Bills at its final meeting of 2015.[26]
The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills and
the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights had not reported on the Bills
as at the date of publication of this Bills Digest.
The positions of non-government parties and independents
were not known as at date of publication of this Bills Digest.
The positions of major interest groups were not known as at
date of publication of this Bills Digest.
The Explanatory Memoranda for the Bills state that the
merger will be cost-neutral, with small savings expected over the forward
estimates.[27]
While the Charges Bill will establish a legislative basis for the ACC to charge
for the provision of national policing information services, CrimTrac already
charges for the same services, so the Government anticipates no direct
financial impact.[28]
As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights
(Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), the Government has assessed
the compatibility of the Bills with the human rights and freedoms recognised or
declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of that Act. The
Government recognised that the Consolidation Bill engages the right to freedom
from unlawful or arbitrary interferences with a person’s privacy under Article
17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[29]
However, the Government considers that, to the extent that the measures in the
Consolidation Bill may limit those rights and freedoms, such limitations are
reasonable, necessary and proportionate.[30]
The government did not consider that the Charges Bill engages any of the
applicable rights and freedoms.[31]
National policing information
function
The term national policing information is
inserted into subsection 4(1) of the ACC Act by item 1
of Schedule 1 of the Consolidation Bill, to mean information that:
(a) is collected by any of the following in the performance
or exercise of its functions or powers:
(i) the Australian Federal Police;
(ii) the police force of a State;
(iii) a body prescribed by the regulations; and
(b) is of a kind prescribed by the regulations;
but does not include the following:
(c) any further information, opinion, interpretation or
conclusion derived by the ACC from collected information;
(d) any
collected information included in an analysis, report or other presentation by
the ACC of material referred to in paragraph (c).
The definition is intended to ensure that information
collected by the ACC through its existing investigatory and intelligence
functions is separate and apart from national policing information of the type
currently dealt with by CrimTrac.
Section 7A of the ACC Act sets out the
functions of the ACC. Item 3 of Schedule 1 of the
Consolidation Bill would insert proposed paragraph 7A(fa) to provide an
additional function concerning national policing information, specifically:
(fa) to provide systems and services relating to national
policing information, including the following:
(i) collecting, correlating and organising
national policing information;
(ii) providing access to national policing
information;
(iii) supporting and facilitating the exchange
of national policing information;
(iv) providing
nationally coordinated criminal history checks on payment of a charge imposed
by the Charges Act.
Section 7C of the ACC Act sets out the
functions of the ACC Board. Items 4 and 5 of Schedule 1
of the Consolidation Bill will amend section 7C to take account of the
ACC’s new national policing information function. The Board will determine
priorities in relation to national policing information systems and services
and, amongst other things, develop related policies.
The ACC Board has seven Commonwealth representatives, six
of whom are voting members, and one representative from each state and territory,
being the head of each police force.[32]
The CrimTrac Board comprises two Commonwealth representatives and one
representative from each state and territory, again the head of each police
force.[33]
The Bills will not make any change to the provision determining the composition
of the ACC Board. Accordingly, this could equate to greater Commonwealth
influence over national policing services compared to the current arrangements.
An attempt to ensure somewhat more even representation is made in item 7
of Schedule 1 of the Consolidation Bill, which will amend
section 7F of the ACC Act so that nine members (not including the
CEO) are required for a quorum, instead of seven.[34]
Further, item 8 will insert proposed section 7L, which
provides the Board may make recommendations about its composition and
functioning to the Inter-Governmental Committee.
Charges and fees for national
policing information
The Consolidation and Charges Bills together contain
provisions so that the ACC can provide national policing information services
according to the same funding model that currently applies to CrimTrac.
National policing information
charge
Clause 6 of the Charges Bill will provide a
legislative basis for the ACC to impose charges, as taxes, for
applications for, and provision of, national policing information services.[35]
Clause 7 of the Charges Bill will provide that the amount charged
is to be determined by the responsible Minister by legislative instrument, and
allow the Minister to charge different amounts for different classes of persons
for the same kind of service. The Explanatory Memorandum states that currently,
CrimTrac charges for criminal history checks for the purpose of employment
screening, but does not charge police for those checks if required for
operational policing purposes.[36]
Proposed section 15A of the ACC Act
will provide that charges imposed under the Charges Act are payable to the ACC
on behalf of the Commonwealth, are debts due to the Commonwealth and give the
ACC authority to recover, waive, reduce or refund charges in particular cases.[37]
Proposed subsection 15A(4) will provide that the Commonwealth is
not liable to pay charges imposed under the Charges Act, but that it is
Parliament’s intention that it be notionally liable.[38]
The Board will make recommendations about charges for
national policing information services, which the Minister will be required to
take into account.[39]
The only service CrimTrac currently charges for is
criminal history checking (through the National Police Checking Service).[40]
The Bills would provide a framework for the continuation of charges for that
service and imposition of charges for other national policing information
services in future. The Explanatory Memorandum states the approach ‘ensures the
self-funded CrimTrac business model will be able to continue to meet the
emerging information technology needs of police as national policing
information services evolve’.[41]
Fees for services
Proposed section 15 of the ACC Act will
allow the ACC to charge a fee that is not a tax for services provided in
the course of its national policing information functions.[42]
The Explanatory Memorandum for the Consolidation Bill states that this will
allow the ACC to provide services to specific agencies on a fee-for-service
basis, as CrimTrac currently does (for instance for fingerprinting services),
separately to the national policing information charge, which also subsidises
other services provided to police.[43]
Clause 8 of the Charges Bill will provide that the
national policing information charge is not payable by a person for a service for
which a fee was imposed under section 15 of the ACC Act (that is, the
service was provided on a fee-for-service basis).
National Policing Information
Systems and Services Special Account
The National Policing Information Systems and Services Special
Account (Special Account) was established in October 2006.[44]
The revenue CrimTrac generates through charges for its services is paid into
the Special Account. The key purpose for which amounts may be debited is ‘scoping,
developing, procuring, implementing and operating new and existing information
technology systems and services in relation to the [CrimTrac] Agency and its
stakeholders and clients’.[45]
Item 32 of Schedule 1 of the
Consolidation Bill will insert proposed sections 59C
(establishment), 59D (credits) and 59E (purposes) into the ACC Act
to continue the Special Account and the way it currently operates in
legislation. The Special Account will continue to be a special account for the
purposes of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability
Act 2013.[46]
The purposes listed in proposed section 59E of
the ACC Act largely mirror those in the 2006 instrument, and are
tied to national policing information functions. Proposed
paragraph 59E(c), which does not have an equivalent in the 2006
instrument, will allow remuneration and allowances to be paid to people for
national policing information functions. The Explanatory Memorandum to the Consolidation
Bill states: ‘This is necessary to continue current arrangements where staff
supporting CrimTrac functions are paid for by Special Account funds, while ACC
staff will continue to be remunerated through appropriations.’[47]
The Board will make recommendations to the Minister about
expenditure from the Special Account.[48]
Accredited bodies for the purposes
of criminal history checks
The CrimTrac CEO is currently responsible for determining
which organisations can access criminal history checks through CrimTrac, within
the parameters set by the CrimTrac Board.
Item 17 of Schedule 1 of the
Consolidation Bill will insert proposed subsections 46A(5), (6)
and (7) into the ACC Act to transfer that responsibility to
the ACC CEO. The CEO will be able to approve, in writing, a Commonwealth, state
or territory body, and any other body or organisation in Australia or overseas
as an accredited body for the purposes of receiving nationally
coordinated criminal history checks. In deciding whether to approve an
organisation, the CEO will be required to act in accordance with any policy
determined, and any direction given, in writing by the Board.
Information disclosure
Sections 59AA-59AD of the ACC Act govern
the ACC’s disclosure of information to government and private sector
organisations, including the purposes for which information may be shared and
with whom.
Items 29, 30 and 31 of Schedule 1
of the Consolidation Bill will amend sections 59AA and 59AB and insert proposed
section 59AAA to take account of the ACC’s new national policing
information function. The amendments aim to ensure the provisions appropriately
distinguish between disclosure of national policing information and other
information held by the ACC under its existing functions.
Proposed subsection 59AA(1A) will require the
CEO to act in accordance with any policy determined, and any direction given,
in writing by the Board when deciding whether to disclose national policing
information to an Australian or foreign agency or an international body. Proposed
subsection 59AA(1B) will require the CEO to obtain approval from the
Board before disclosing national policing information to a body other than an
Australian police force, certain Commonwealth agencies and bodies prescribed by
the regulations.
Proposed subsection 59AB(2A) will require the
CEO to act in accordance with any policy determined and any direction given in
writing by the Board when deciding whether to disclose national policing
information to a private sector organisation. Proposed subsection 59AB(2B)
will require the CEO to obtain approval from the Board before making any such
disclosures.
Proposed section 59AAA will provide
specifically for disclosure of information from a criminal history check
performed by the ACC. The information will be able to be disclosed to an
accredited body, or the person to whom it relates, if the disclosure would not
be contrary to any Australian law or any conditions or restrictions determined
by the Board. The rationale for this amendment is set out in the Explanatory
Memorandum to the Consolidation Bill as follows:
Currently, CrimTrac will only conduct a nationally
coordinated criminal history check on an individual where that individual has
applied for such a check through an accredited agency. In the future, CrimTrac
has advised that the Board may wish to move to a model where individuals can
apply for and access a nationally coordinated criminal history check about
themselves, without going through an accredited body as an intermediary.[49]
Other changes and issues associated
with the merger
Parliamentary oversight
The ACC and AFP are overseen by the Parliamentary Joint
Committee on Law Enforcement.[50]
The merger will bring CrimTrac’s current functions and staff within the
Committee’s remit.
Integrity measures
ACC staff are subject to the targeted integrity testing
regime that also applies to the AFP, Australian Commission for Law Enforcement
Integrity (ACLEI) and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection under
the Crimes Act 1914, and targeted and random testing for
drug and alcohol use.[51]
The merger would apply those regimes to staff transferred from CrimTrac.
Integrity testing operations are designed to test the integrity of employees
using controlled or simulated situations. An operation can be undertaken where
an authorising officer is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to
suspect a staff member has committed, is committing or is likely to commit an
offence punishable by at least 12 months imprisonment, and that it is appropriate in all the circumstances
to conduct the operation.[52]
The ACC and CrimTrac are both already subject to oversight
by ACLEI, the organisation charged with preventing, detecting and investigating
corruption in Commonwealth law enforcement agencies.[53]
ACC powers
As noted in the Background section of this Bills Digest,
the ACC has access to significant coercive powers similar to those of a Royal
Commission. Under the ACC Act, those powers are only available to
persons appointed by the Governor-General as examiners and ACC staff members
who are also constables.[54]
Accordingly, the merger will not extend access to coercive powers under the ACC
Act to staff transferred from CrimTrac.
Controlled operations, assumed identities and witness
identity protection powers under Parts IAB, IAC and IACA respectively of the Crimes
Act are available to any ‘member of staff of the ACC’ provided relevant
thresholds are met.[55]
However, given the nature of the powers as investigative tools and hence the
thresholds for use, the fact they will now be available to current staff of
CrimTrac is unlikely to have any impact in practice, provided the powers are
used in accordance with the law.
The support of state and territory governments will be
important in ensuring the ongoing effective operation of the functions
currently performed by CrimTrac, which support law enforcement agencies across
Australia. The support for the ACC/CrimTrac merger provided by state and
territory governments in November 2015 was characterised in the Minister’s
media release as ‘in-principle’ agreement. This appears to suggest those
governments have not been consulted on the detail of the merger as set out in
the Consolidation Bill. State and territory governments had not commented
publicly on the Bill as at date of publication of this Bills Digest.
Members, Senators and Parliamentary staff can obtain further
information from the Parliamentary Library on (02) 6277 2500.
[1]. Australian Crime
Commission Act 2002 (ACC Act), accessed
22 January 2016.
[2]. Agreement
between the Commonwealth of Australia, the states of New South Wales, Victoria,
Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, the Australian
Capital Territory and the Northern Territory of Australia for the establishment
and operation of “CrimTrac”, a national law enforcement information system for
Australia’s police services (IGA), 13 July 2000, p. 2, accessed
22 January 2016.
See also Memorandum
of Understanding between New South Wales Police, Victoria Police, Queensland
Police, Western Australia Police, South Australia Police, Northern Territory
Police, Tasmania Police, ACT Policing, Australian Federal Police and The
CrimTrac Agency, 2006, accessed 25 January 2016.
[3]. CrimTrac,
‘National police
checks’, ‘Offender
register’, ‘Police
reference services’ and ‘Firearms library’,
CrimTrac website, all accessed 22 January 2016.
[4]. CrimTrac,
‘About CrimTrac’,
CrimTrac website, accessed 22 January 2016.
[5]. IGA,
clause 7.2; CrimTrac, Annual
report 2014–15, CrimTrac, Canberra, 2015, p. 6; Public Service Act 1999,
Part 9; both accessed 25 January 2016.
[6]. M Keenan,
‘Second
reading speech: Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing
Information) Bill 2015’, House of Representatives, Debates,
3 December 2015, pp. 14626–28, accessed
28 January 2016.
[7]. IGA,
clause 7.1; CrimTrac, Annual report 2014–15, op. cit.,
pp. 7, 68.
[8]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing
Information Charges) Bill 2015 (Charges Bill), p. 2; CrimTrac, Annual
report 2014–15, op. cit., p. 76.
[9]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Charges Bill, p. 2; CrimTrac, Annual report 2014–15,
op. cit., p. 116.
[10]. Australian
Crime Commission (ACC), ‘About the Crime
Commission: History’, ACC website, accessed 27 January 2016.
[11]. ACC
‘About
the Crime Commission: Mission and values’, ACC website, accessed
27 January 2016.
[12]. ACC Act,
sections 4 (definitions) and 7A (functions).
[13]. Ibid.,
sections 7B and 7C. See further ACC, ‘About
the Crime Commission: Australian Crime Commission Board’, and ‘Organised
crime: Determinations’, ACC website, both accessed
27 January 2016.
[14]. Ibid.,
sections 7 (establishment) and 47 (staff).
[15]. ACC,
Annual
report 2014–15, ACC, Canberra, 2015, pp. 9, 170–71; ACC, ‘About
the Crime Commission: Organisational structure’, ACC website; both accessed
27 January 2016.
[16]. ACC Act,
Subdivisions B (Board) and C (Inter-Governmental Committee) of
Division 1, Part II; ACC, ‘About the Crime Commission: Australian
Crime Commission Board’, op. cit.; Attorney-General’s Department (AGD), ‘Inter-Governmental
Committee of the Australian Crime Commission’, AGD website, accessed
27 January 2016.
[17]. National
Commission of Audit, Towards
responsible government: the report of the National Commission of Audit:
Phase 1, National Commission of Audit, Canberra,
February 2014, pp. 208–09 (Recommendation 52), accessed
27 January 2016.
[18]. Ibid.,
p. 209.
[19]. Law,
Crime, and Community Safety Council (LCCSC), Communiqué,
LCCSC Meeting, Canberra, 22 May 2015, p. 4, accessed
25 January 2016.
[20]. LCCSC,
Communiqué,
LCCSC Meeting, Canberra, 5 November 2015, accessed
25 January 2016.
[21]. M Keenan
(Minister for Justice), New
super agency to tackle emerging threats, media release,
5 November 2015, accessed 25 January 2016.
[22]. P Riordan,
‘Australian
Crime Commission to expand into a national crime intelligence agency’, The
Australian Financial Review (online edition), 5 November 2015,
accessed 28 January 2016.
[23]. Parliament
of Australia, ‘Australian
Crime Commission Amendment (Criminology Research) Bill 2015 homepage’,
Australian Parliament website, accessed 27 January 2016.
[24]. MA
Neilsen, Australian
Crime Commission Amendment (Criminology Research) Bill 2015, Bills
digest, 44, 2015–16, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2015, accessed
27 January 2016.
[25]. National
Commission of Audit, op. cit., p. 208.
[26]. Senate
Standing Committee for Selection of Bills, Report,
16, 2015, The Senate, 3 December 2015, accessed
27 January 2016.
[27]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing
Information) Bill 2015 (Consolidation Bill), p. 3, accessed
22 January 2016; Explanatory Memorandum, Charges Bill, p. 3.
[28]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Charges Bill, p. 3.
[29]. International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done in New York on 16 December
1966, [1980] ATS 23 (entered into force for Australia (except Art. 41) on 13
November 1980; Art. 41 came into force for Australia on 28 January 1994).
[30]. The
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights can be found at pages 4–7 of the Explanatory
Memorandum to the Consolidation Bill.
[31]. The
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights can be found at page 4 of the Explanatory
Memorandum to the Charges Bill.
[32]. ACC Act,
subsection 7B(2).
[33]. CrimTrac,
‘Board of Management’,
CrimTrac website, accessed 27 January 2016.
[34]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Consolidation Bill, p. 15.
[35]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Charges Bill, p. 2.
[36]. Ibid.,
p. 7.
[37]. Item 14
of Schedule 1 of the Consolidation Bill.
[38]. This
is because the Commonwealth cannot impose a tax on itself. Explanatory
Memorandum, Consolidation Bill, p. 18.
[39]. Items 5
and 6 of Schedule 1 of the Consolidation Bill (proposed
paragraph 7C(1)(gb) and subsections 7C(7) to (9); Subclause
7(3) of the Charges Bill.
[40]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Charges Bill, p. 6.
[41]. Ibid.
[42]. Item 14
of Schedule 1 of the Consolidation Bill.
[43]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Consolidation Bill, p. 17.
[44]. Financial Management and
Accountability Determination 2006/07 — National Policing Information Systems
and Services Special Account Establishment 2006, accessed
28 January 2016.
[45]. Ibid.,
clause 5.
[46]. Public Governance,
Performance and Accountability Act 2013, Division 3 of
Part 2-5, accessed 28 January 2016. See further Department of
Finance, ‘Special
Accounts’,
Department of Finance website, accessed 28 January 2016.
[47]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Consolidation Bill, p. 28.
[48]. Item 5
of Schedule 1 of the Consolidation Bill (proposed paragraph
7C(1)(ga)).
[49]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Consolidation Bill, p. 6.
[50]. Parliamentary Joint
Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010; Parliament of Australia, ‘Joint
Committee on Law Enforcement’, Australian Parliament website; both accessed
28 January 2016.
[51]. ACC,
Annual report 2014–15, op. cit., p. 252; Crimes Act 1914,
Part IABA, accessed 28 January 2016.
[52]. Crimes Act,
sections 15JD, 15JE and 15JG.
[53]. Law Enforcement
Integrity Commissioner Act 2006, accessed 28 January 2016.
See further Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), ‘About ACLEI’, ACLEI website,
accessed 28 January 2016.
[54]. ACC Act,
subsection 4(1) (definitions of ‘eligible person’ and ‘examiner’) and
section 46B (appointment of examiners).
[55]. Crimes
Act, sections 3 (definition of law enforcement officer); 15GH and 15GI
(controlled operations); 15K, 15KA and 15KB (assumed identities), and 15M and
15ME (witness identity protection).
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