Page 4539 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 26 November 2019
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Organised crime is an issue for all Australian states and territories. Our message to these groups and their associates is clear: ACT Policing will find you. They will disrupt your activities and you will be prosecuted for breaking the law. Our government has provided legislative tools and financial resources to ACT Policing to tackle organised crime in the ACT. This bill forms part of ongoing efforts to provide effective, lawful and human rights compliant measures to help keep our city safe. The reforms before us today build on a range of powers for law enforcement to tackle organised crime.
The Crimes (Fortification Removal) Amendment Bill 2018 introduced the ability for the police to apply to the Magistrates Court for an order directing the removal of a fortification, such as fortified doors and gates, from a property connected to a serious criminal offence. Fortifications have the effect of preventing the effective execution of search warrants by delaying police entry and providing an opportunity for people to leave or for evidence to be destroyed. The amendments introduced by the government work to prevent this and undermine the activities of criminal gangs.
The Crimes (Police Powers and Firearms Offence) Amendment Act 2017 created statutory crime scene powers to allow police to establish a crime scene in public or private premises in order to protect and preserve evidence. The act also introduced a new offence of drive-by shooting, punishable by a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. The new offence was in response to incidents of drive-by shootings in the ACT and was constructed so that it is only required that the firearm be discharged at a building rather than at a person. This reflects the type of behaviour engaged in by people involved in organised crime.
In 2019 the Firearms Act 1996 was amended to require defendants to prove that they have an interstate firearms licence or permit where they are charged with a number of offences relating to possession or use of firearms and ammunition. Prior to this amendment, a person could simply say they had held an interstate licence, and it was left to the prosecution to prove that they did not, which was not always a straightforward task. The amendment means that criminals, including those involved in organised crime, are not able to evade prosecution on a technicality.
Of course it is important to continually assess whether the measures in place are working as intended and what new measures might be required. The government continues to work closely with ACT Policing to understand the state of organised crime activity in the ACT and the response that may be required.
Adding to existing legislative measures, the bill before us introduces a range of measures which will expand the territory’s ability to respond to serious and organised crime and to incidents of public disorder. The bill takes a multifaceted approach by strengthening the current regulatory schemes for liquor and construction, increasing maximum penalties for offences committed in connection with a criminal group or while the offender is associated with a criminal group, and targeting public order incidents through new tiered offences of affray and a civil mechanism to exclude people who are violent in the company of others from licensed premises.
I commend the bill to the Assembly.
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