Australian Crime Commission and CrimTrac Merger Bills
Friday 18 December 2015 @ 11.31 a.m. | Crime
The Australian Parliament has introduced the Australian Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015 and the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015 into in the House of Representatives. The bills package, if passed, would merge the CrimTrac Agency into the Australian Crime Commission (ACC).
Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015
This bill provides for the merger of CrimTrac with the ACC. The merger is intended to bring together Australia’s national criminal intelligence and information capabilities under one banner. It aims to provide a unified resource to enrich the national understanding of criminal activity, including volume crimes (such as domestic violence) as well as serious and organised crimes and terrorism. This will allow police, justice agencies and policy makers at all levels of government to adopt a more effective, efficient and evidence-based response to crime.
According to Michael Keenan in his second reading speech:
“Merging CrimTrac and the ACC continues this government's commitment to ensuring Australian law enforcement agencies are in the best possible position to protect us from criminal and national security threats. The merger will enrich the ACC's critical intelligence function with direct access to CrimTrac's national police information holdings and sophisticated information technology capabilities.”
Australian Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015
The purpose of this bill is to create a legislative basis for the ACC to be able to impose charges, as taxes, for the application and provision of national policing information services currently provided by CrimTrac. Essentially, the bill provides the framework that would allow charges to be imposed by the ACC for services other than just criminal history checking.
Keenan in his second reading speech said:
“The bill will create a mechanism to allow the minister to specify in a legislative instrument the services that the merged agency will charge for, who has to pay the charges, and the amount of each charge.”
Both Bills are awaiting debate when Commonwealth Parliament resumes sitting in 2016.
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Sources:
Australian Crime Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2015, explanatory memorandum and second reading speech
Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015, explanatory memorandum and second reading speech
