Page 4543 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 26 November 2019
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together to strengthen our responses to criminal gangs in the ACT and to ensure that our law-abiding citizens are protected from violence associated with criminal groups.
The three amendments that improve public order responses include the new tiered offences of serious affray, amendments to the penalties for offences of fighting and offensive behaviour, and increased maximum penalties for specified offences committed in connection with a criminal group or committed by a person associated with a criminal group. These amendments will allow ACT Policing and the criminal justice processes to adequately respond to the unique nature and operation of criminal gangs.
The Australian Crime Commission has described criminal gangs as one of the most high profile manifestations of organised crime. Members may be involved in a range of criminal activities, including drug production and trafficking, firearms trafficking, serious fraud, money laundering, property crime and offences of violence. The ACC has noted that criminal gangs do not usually engage in organised crime as a collective unit but that generally the threat arises from small numbers of members leveraging off the OMCG and conspiring with other criminals for common criminal purposes.
The key purpose of these amendments is to acknowledge and respond to the increased danger, fear and panic caused to the public by more serious incidents of violence involving multiple people acting in common, and to discourage members of a criminal gang from using their criminality as a shield.
In relation to the new tiered offence of affray, the bill includes two additional offences of affray that sit alongside the current existing offence, which carries a maximum penalty of two years\ imprisonment. The two new offences ensure that there are appropriate criminal responses for acknowledging the serious incidents of public disorder when they are committed in company of other criminal gang members. The new offences carry a maximum of five years imprisonment where the violent conduct involves the offender and two or more people and a maximum of ten years imprisonment where the violent conduct involves the offender and five or more people.
In addition to the new tiered offences of affray, the bill also increases the maximum penalty for other similar public order offences such as fighting and offensive behaviour. The new maximum penalty for these offences is increased to 20 penalty units, which brings these less serious offences in line with other similar types of offending behaviours.
Finally, the bill establishes a new sentencing regime for specified offences committed in connection with or by a person associated with a criminal group. This operates only after a conviction and demonstrates the necessity for the courts to recognise that criminals who have some connection with a criminal group leverage that connection to commit criminal acts, in particular those I mentioned earlier which have been identified by the ACC.
Committing an offence while associated with a criminal group increases the maximum penalty for the offence by 10 per cent. This increased penalty reflects the
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