Bills

Statutes Amendment (National Policing Information Systems and Services) Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (12:00): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Children's Protection Act 1993; the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Act 2007; the Disability Services Act 1993; the Spent Convictions Act 2009; and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (12:01): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The commonwealth merged CrimTrac and the Australian Crime Commission on 1 July 2016. The new merged body commenced operation on 1 July 2016. The new body is known as the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (though legally it is the Australian Crime Commission). The merger resulted in a new scheme for the use and exchange of policing information between Australian jurisdictions. This new scheme also commenced operation on 1 July 2016.

The Statutes Amendment (National Policing Information Systems and Services) Bill 2017 makes consequential amendments to several acts to update references to the newly merged agency and reflect the new scheme for the use and exchange of policing information. I seek leave to insert the remainder of the second reading explanation in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

The Bill amends the Children's Protection Act 1993, the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Act 2007, the Disability Services Act 1993 and the Spent Convictions Act 2003. The Bill is technical in nature.

The Government is keen to facilitate the exchange of policing information between jurisdictions. There is an obvious need in a modern context for the accurate, swift and effective exchange of policing information between Australian law enforcement and other agencies, notably in situations such as terrorism, serious and organised crime, domestic violence and child protection.

CrimTrac was established under an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the Commonwealth, States and Territories. A new IGA now exists to support the merger and reflect the changed agency arrangements and the new regime to share policing information. South Australia has signed this new IGA.

CrimTrac was a partnership between State, Territory and Commonwealth police forces. It provided police (and other agencies); whether frontline staff, investigators, intelligence or undertaking other functions, with information sharing services. While the majority of CrimTrac systems were available to most police, some of CrimTrac's systems (such as relating to child exploitation material) were restricted to specialist investigators and forensic specialists. CrimTrac had a transactional focus. CrimTrac supported police agencies to input, export and share data. Additionally, CrimTrac built and hosted systems such as the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, National Child Offender System, National Investigative DNA Database, the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, the Australian Ballistic Identification Network and the Child Exploitation System which provide operational capability to State, Territory and Commonwealth law enforcement agencies. The new post 1 July 2016 scheme largely replicates the previous scheme.

The merger, though a Commonwealth operational issue, raised other implications for South Australia, notably in the new scheme for the exchange of policing information. As an interim solution in South Australia, the Disability Services (Assessment of Relevant History) Variation Regulations 2016 and the Children's Protection Variation Regulations 2016 came into operation on 1 July 2016.These Regulations ensured South Australia's continued unimpeded short term involvement in the national policing information scheme after the merger.

The purpose of the merger is to support operational effectiveness and enhance law enforcement and national security benefits and the provision of timely, accurate and cogent information to law enforcement and other agencies. The Commonwealth has summarised the benefits as:

'having a unified resource would enrich the national understanding of criminal activity, including volume crimes (such as domestic violence) and serious and organised crime and terrorism. The merger of the agencies would improve the quality, access and timeliness of intelligence provided to law enforcement and intelligence agencies and would allow police, justice agencies and policy makers at all levels of government to adopt a more effective, efficient and evidence-based response to crime.'

The use and benefits of the information scheme extends beyond law enforcement to supporting the State's legislative child safe and disability environment provisions as a broad range of both government and non-government organisations that provide services to children and certain persons with disability must ensure that a relevant history assessment is conducted for any person who will be performing a prescribed function.

The Statutes Amendment (National Policing Information Systems and Services) Bill 2017 supports the new scheme for the swift, accurate and effective exchange of policing information between Australian jurisdictions.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Children's Protection Act 1993

3—Amendment of section 8BA—Obligations of certain performers of prescribed functions in respect of relevant history

This clause amends section 8BA to update the reference to CrimTrac to the Australian Crime Commission (the ACC) established under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 of the Commonwealth.

Part 3—Amendment of Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Act 2007

4—Amendment of section 41—Commissioner may maintain DNA database system

This clause amends section 41 to update references to CrimTrac to the Australian Crime Commission (the ACC) established under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 of the Commonwealth.

Part 4—Amendment of Disability Services Act 1993

5—Amendment of section 5C—Obligations of certain performers of prescribed functions in respect of relevant history

This clause amends section 5C to update the reference to CrimTrac to the Australian Crime Commission (the ACC) established under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 of the Commonwealth.

Part 5—Amendment of Spent Convictions Act 2009

6—Amendment of section 3—Preliminary

This clause deletes the reference to the CrimTrac Agency that is listed in the definition of justice agency for the purposes of the Act.

Schedule 1—Transitional provisions

1—Preliminary

This clause provides a definition of CrimTrac for the purposes of the transitional provisions in clauses 2 and 3.

2—Transitional provision—Children's Protection Act 1993

This clause provides that a criminal history report prepared by CrimTrac or a CrimTrac accredited agency or broker will, for the purposes of section 8BA of the Children's Protection Act 1993 as in force after the commencement of Part 2 of this Act, be taken to be a criminal history report prepared by the ACC.

3—Transitional provision—Disability Services Act 1993

This clause provides that a criminal history report prepared by CrimTrac or a CrimTrac accredited agency or broker will, for the purposes of section 5C of the Disability Services Act 1993 as in force after the commencement of Part 4 of this Act, be taken to be a criminal history report prepared by the ACC.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Treloar.