Page 926 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2012
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working group established by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General and the Australasian Police Ministers Council. The joint working group was chaired by the commonwealth and included representatives of law enforcement agencies and justice departments across the country.
In February 2003 that working group published a discussion paper titled “Cross-border investigative powers for law enforcement” to facilitate public consultation on the model legislation. The paper acknowledged that the impetus to create model laws in the first place was based on decisions of the High Court, parliamentary reviews and royal commissions which concluded that a legislative approach is the best way of limiting and monitoring controlled operations activity.
In Ridgeway v The Queen, the High Court, in acknowledging that sometimes law enforcement officers need to engage in illegal activities as part of investigations, recommended that the problems relating to the conduct of controlled operations should be addressed through the introduction of regulating legislation. Equally, the 1997 Wood royal commission into New South Wales police services recommended a similar approach.
The working group received 19 written submissions and focused very closely on the delivery of improved legislative outcomes. As a result, the joint working group released the “Cross-border investigative powers for law enforcement” report, which included a model bill drafted to address issues raised during the consultation process.
This model bill covered controlled operations, assumed identities, surveillance devices and protection of witness identity. It set out legislative proposals together with research conducted by the working group and it outlined any comments made about the proposals and submissions. This is the basis for the model laws which now operate here in the territory.
Another example of how this government uses an evidence-based approach to crime in the ACT can be seen through the reasoned approach the government took to considering and addressing serious and organised crime following an incident between two rival bikie gangs at Sydney airport in early 2009.
Organised crime continues to present many challenges in Australia and overseas. Organised crime has been at the forefront of media attention in recent times, particularly in relation to outlaw motorcycle gangs, and various states and territories have adopted a number of different legislative responses to the issue.
At the request of the Assembly, I tabled a government report in June 2009. This report was a comprehensive and factual assessment designed to inform the debate on possible legislative responses to serious and organised crime in the ACT. The report also considered the legislative approach of declaring criminal organisations that South Australia and New South Wales had at that stage adopted.
The government introduced the Crimes (Serious Organised Crime) Amendment Bill in February 2010 to strengthen the territory’s ability to combat serious organised
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