Page 3561 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 25 August 2009
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international links that will ensure that they feature in any list of high risk crime groups for the foreseeable future.
The South Australian Government advises that the effect of the South Australian reform program has seen displacement interstate of some members of criminal groups that could have been targeted by South Australia’s new laws. Displacement of this kind may continue to occur in order to evade the reach of the legislation.
Of course you are not going to move to New South Wales, Queensland or Western Australia because they have actually implemented the appropriate laws. Where will you go? I guess to Victoria or the ACT. The AFPA letter continues:
The Australian Crime Commission has also given an opinion that “anticipating legislation that will effectively outlaw OMCGs in South Australia, there are indications that some outlaw groups have already relocated to other jurisdictions”.
That certainly puts us here in the ACT at significant risk. The letter concludes:
The AFPA has no doubt that if NSW enacts amendments in line the with South Australian organised crime legislation, that organised crime, including OMCGs, will be further displaced and that the ACT, being located half way between Adelaide and Sydney, will be a safe haven for organised crime without specific organised crime fighting legislation.
So as much as the Attorney-General now seems to be an advocate of up-front law and order, when it actually comes to implementing the appropriate laws that are going to keep us safe from organised crime, he seems to go weak at the knees. I am waiting for a response from the minister about what he is going to do about the recommendations in the report. Hopefully, they will have the support of government and we will see them introduced into the Assembly.
I expect that the minister will speak to the point that we disagree on, which is aspects of association law and so on that have been introduced in New South Wales and South Australia. We will continue to make the case that we do require those laws in the ACT. We will continue to advocate them. That, clearly, is the position of the opposition.
In conclusion, I encourage the minister to act swiftly on this report, to advise the Assembly what the process will be in moving forward from here and to make sure that laws that have been successfully implemented in other jurisdictions to keep people safe from organised crime are introduced in the ACT.
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (12.20): I thank the Attorney-General for tabling the government report, and I rise to commend the report to the Assembly.
The government has not rested on its laurels when it comes to tackling crime in all its forms. This report is an outstanding example of how, in a liberal democratic society, elected officials can choose to stand back from a highly emotive issue and take a considered and informed approach.
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