Page 4236 - Week 11 - Thursday, 17 Sept 2009
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life again. In that case, there would be something to “reveal” and to report at any time after the trial concludes could be deemed to be an offence.
That is a narrow example of the type of concerns the Greens would have about suppressing police identities at trial. As I have said, I have flagged that now and it may end up being a matter that we discuss in this chamber another day. I trust that we will have quite some discussions in the lead-up to such a bill if it is tabled.
Let me simply conclude by saying that the Greens believe this bill delivers a targeted strategy to work in line with the existing system of controlled operations and the Greens will be supporting this bill in the chamber today.
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (5.13): Assumed identities are an incredibly important tool for any modem police force. An assumed identity is a fictitious identity that is used by a police officer or authorised civilian to investigate an offence or gather intelligence. Assumed identities provide protection for undercover operatives engaged in serious criminal investigations and infiltrating organised crime groups.
The first thing that comes to mind is undercover police working to prosecute drug traffickers. The sophistication of many criminal and corrupt enterprises or the consensual and private nature of some criminals means that relevant evidence and intelligence is unlikely to be obtained by the normal array of investigation strategies. Only by filtering these criminal or corrupt conduct enterprises is it possible to gather the necessary evidence to arrest and prosecute offenders. Infiltrating a drug trafficking enterprise, for example, will usually involve a law enforcement officer negotiating for the supply of drugs or actually buying and taking possession of drugs.
However, police forces are finding that there is overlap in relation to the types of criminal activities targeted during covert operations. Operations are, in many cases, targeting a range of criminal activities, including prohibitive drugs, firearm offences and armed robbery. The experience from around the country shows that these kinds of operations target a broad range of criminal activity such as larceny, intimidating witnesses, kidnapping, sexual assault and bribery of a public official.
One area where assumed identities are becoming critical is in the world of the internet—in particular, the online grooming of young people by paedophiles and the production and trade in images of the sexual abuse of children. Members may have had the opportunity to see the 7.30 Report on the ABC recently. One of the reports on the 7.30 Report was about the work of the sexual offences unit of the Victoria Police who work online using assumed identities.
Victoria Police drew attention to this growing crime and noted how important it was to have the ability to detect and investigate adults who groom children online for the purposes of sexual assault. Critical to the work of Victoria Police and for other police forces around the world is the use of assumed identities. National and international coordination is so important to this work, especially in the area of trade in images of child abuse for sexual gratification.
The government’s bill will strengthen the collaboration of law enforcement agencies across borders. The bill will enable other jurisdictions with corresponding laws to use
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