The Government will:
As a result of the review, two new structures were created: the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Board, which coordinates policy advice to the Government on law enforcement issues and monitors cooperation between agencies; and within it, the Office of Strategic Crime Assessment to advise on emerging criminal trends in this country and overseas, which will assist in establishing priorities in law enforcement. The Office of Strategic Crime Assessment will provide the Government with assessments on such matters as drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, technology-based crimes, environmental crime, and violence against women and children.
The Government will publish annually the outcomes of assessments of criminal trends made by the Office of Strategic Crime Assessment.The Australian Federal Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Commonwealth and is represented throughout Australia, its external territories and in 15 locations abroad. In the Australian Capital Territory, the Federal Police contracts general community policing services to the Territory Government.
The Australian Federal Police's principal responsibilities are to safeguard the interests of the Commonwealth through upholding the Commonwealth criminal law and investigating serious fraud against the Commonwealth's revenue and expenditure, organised crime (including drug trafficking), corruption, environmental crime and other emerging forms of serious crime. The Federal Police also supports United Nations peacekeeping activities to which Australia is committed, undertakes protective security of high office holders, and administers the National Witness Protection Program.
The increasing globalisation of crime dictates that, in discharging its responsibilities, the Federal Police must work closely with other Commonwealth, State/Territory and international agencies. In combating crime, the Australian Federal Police focuses on the highest echelons of the criminal enterprise with the aim of destroying, dismantling or disrupting it and depriving it of the proceeds of its illegal gains.
The Commonwealth Law Enforcement Review focused on the interagency arrangements between Commonwealth law enforcement bodies to ensure Commonwealth agencies remain on the cutting edge in the fight against crime. It did not examine the efficiency of the individual agencies. Following on from this process, a review of the Australian Federal Police will now be undertaken.
The Government is committed to further sharpening the focus and effectiveness of the Australian Federal Police in its important work and reviewing its resources and efficiency.
The Commonwealth has introduced restrictions on firearms under Customs Regulations. These include a ban on the importation of automatic firearms and classification of semi-automatic firearms as prohibited imports, except in restricted cases. The Commonwealth has changed procedures governing the release of imported firearms by the Australian Customs Service to prevent individuals from obtaining imported firearms if they have criminal records or adverse firearms licence histories or are subject to current domestic violence orders. The Commonwealth has banned the sale of defence firearms and ammunition to the public.
Laws relating to the ownership and possession of guns, registration and licensing requirements are controlled by State and Territory law. The Commonwealth is urging the States and Territories to agree to stricter national gun laws. The Australasian Police Ministers' Council has been the main forum for debate on firearms matters and is implementing a uniform national approach to firearms control. The Commonwealth has taken a leading role in the deliberations on these issues and is determined to impress on the States and Territories the importance of a national approach.
In 1993, the Australasian Police Ministers' Council agreed to an extension of the currently approved Police Reference System, by which police have computer access to police records in other jurisdictions, to include a record of individuals with adverse firearms licence histories and those against whom current domestic violence orders have been issued. In 1994, the Council agreed to the Commonwealth's proposal to expand the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations to include a prohibition on the importation of other dangerous goods.
In May 1995, the Council will review progress in implementing national firearms controls. At that meeting the Federal Government will urge the States and Territories to fully comply with the uniform gun controls agreed to in 1991.
The Government will ask the States and Territories to tighten gun licensing requirements and introduce gun registration in the States and Territories that have not done so. We will further tighten already stringent gun importation restrictions and ban the importation of guns that substantially duplicate sub-machine guns.
As detailed in the National Women's Justice Strategy, the Australian Institute of Criminology will be funded to provide coordinated and comparative data on the effectiveness of different legal system responses to violence against women, and the Family Court will be provided with a database accessible to the Australian Federal Police to assist in the enforcement of Family Court orders.
The Government has strengthened the country's counter-terrorist capacity through the Standing Advisory Committee on the Protection Against Violence, which supplies additional training and equipment to the State police forces, and coordinates regular major counter-terrorist training exercises involving state and federal police, intelligence agencies and the defence forces.
The Government has also improved protection for the diplomatic and consular community, by increasing funding - on a year-to-year basis - for the protection of diplomatic interests in response to threats as they arise.
State and Territory governments and police forces have begun work to provide a more comprehensive means of listing and tracking missing people but much remains to be done.
The National Exchange of Police Information is developing a Persons of Interest data base to be made available to all jurisdictions. `Missing Persons' will be one subset of this database. Jurisdictions are urged to contribute to the database, which is a resource for the various police forces - a list containing sufficient details for identification.
In April 1995, a conference recommended that all Australian jurisdictions provide details of missing persons - where suspicious circumstances exist or the disappearance is substantially out of character - to the Australian Violent Crime Analysis Centre. The Centre is administered by the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.
A consistent and unified approach to dealing with reports of Australians reported as missing overseas and foreigners reported missing in Australia is also needed. There is no established procedure in this area and in the past local police have sometimes referred people wanting to report a foreigner missing in Australia to the Department of Foreign Affairs or the Australian Federal Police.
The Federal Government will assist in developing a comprehensive national response to the problem and tragedy of missing persons. Our initiative will seek to build on the good work done thus far by the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence and the National Exchange of Police Information.
A National Missing Persons Bureau will be established and funded by the Commonwealth. The Bureau will not duplicate the work of the National Exchange of Police Information or the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.
Instead, the Bureau will concentrate on following up on `outstanding' missing persons. The Bureau will circulate bulletins and photographs within Australia, and where appropriate overseas. It will use Interpol and/or the Australian Federal Police's overseas network to follow up leads, emphasise the search for missing children, and record foreign nationals missing in Australia.
Specific criteria will be established as to what constitutes an `outstanding' missing person to be reported to the Bureau. Criteria will include the circumstances surrounding the disappearance and the assessed risk to the missing person, the length of time they have been missing, the need for national and international inquiries, and advice from investigators and relevant third parties such as family, friends, and medical and welfare professionals.
The Bureau will raise public awareness of the problem of missing persons, enhance Australia's safety as a place to live and visit, and demonstrate that the Commonwealth is committed to the welfare of its citizens.
It is envisaged that the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence will administer the Bureau, but this will be subject to broad consultation with the nation's police forces, other relevant agencies, and State and Territory governments as to the best means of bringing together present arrangements within the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence and the National Exchange of Police Information.
The Commonwealth will commit $1.2 million over four years to establish and fund a National Missing Persons Bureau. The Bureau will concentrate on `outstanding' missing persons. It will circulate bulletins and photographs within Australia, and where appropriate overseas; use Interpol and/or the Australian Federal Police's overseas network to follow up leads; emphasise the search for missing children; and record foreign nationals missing in Australia.
The High Court held that, where police import narcotics without legislative authorisation, a court should, as a general rule, refuse to allow evidence of that unlawful importation to be admitted against a defendant charged with possessing those narcotics. Police sometimes need to engage in import or export of drugs in order to identify and prosecute trafficking ringleaders, who often conceal their identities and location by using a chain of couriers and intermediaries to convey the goods. By facilitating, or when necessary by carrying out, the transport of the drugs, police can often identify the ringleaders.
Under the High Court decision, police would be unable to engage in these strictly controlled operations in the investigation of narcotics trafficking. The Government has a responsibility to Australians to ensure that the police have the tools to properly tackle crime. The complex issues raised by this case are currently being addressed by the Government.
The Commonwealth has instigated a cooperative approach with the States and Territories to develop uniform national laws in a number of other areas. The Commonwealth and the States are working together on ways of preventing crime.
The Model Criminal Code will simplify and improve the criminal law. It is being drafted in `plain English' and will greatly reduce the size and complexity of our criminal statutes. The Code will update and improve existing laws and provide for a national approach to fighting crime by removing jurisdictional differences that can be exploited by criminals to escape justice.
The Model Criminal Code will provide an opportunity to review all serious crimes ranging from violent crime to drug offences, and ensure that they reflect the needs of contemporary Australia.
The Government has enacted the first parts of the Code dealing with criminal responsibility, and will soon be enacting Code provisions dealing with fraud and theft offences.
The Government has committed an additional $800,000 over four years to implementing the Model Criminal Code and will encourage the States and Territories to make similar changes to their laws so as to implement the Code nationally by 2001.
The Government will introduce a Forensic Procedures Bill to allow police to apply for court orders to take samples from suspected criminals for identification.The use of forensic samples is a very important tool in crime investigation. The compulsory taking of samples is necessary for effective law enforcement. A lack of such powers might advantage criminals. The Commonwealth legislation will build in substantial civil liberty safeguards.
The Government will implement a plan of action, `Safer Australia', which aims to prevent crime by identifying problem areas and then assist in developing responses to prevent or reduce that crime.Safer Australia is a national strategy on community safety and crime prevention, to be developed in partnership with the States and Territories, which will set out the direction that must be taken to make Australian communities safer. The objective of Safer Australia is to unify crime prevention efforts across the country to give them focus and direction.
Other countries have equivalent strategies. England has `Crime Concern', Canada has the `National Crime Prevention Council'. These are bodies that fund carefully planned, targeted, efficient programs.
There are many groups in Australia working to prevent crime and help the victims of crime, such as the Australian Crime Prevention Council and the Australasian Victims of Crime Association, and State-based organisations such as the Victorian Community Council Against Violence and the South Australian Crime Prevention Council. Safer Australia will assist existing bodies like these by providing funding for nationally coordinated activities and significant community projects.
Various States have been urging the Commonwealth for some time to establish a body to address the community safety concerns that are national in character and cannot be effectively met through existing State or Territory crime prevention structures. Through the Australasian Police Ministers' Council, the Commonwealth and the States and Territories have been working to establish a National Crime Prevention and Community Safety Strategy.
The Government welcomes the States and Territories' National Anti-Crime Strategy, which arose from the special Premiers' Forum on Crime in November 1994. The Premiers' strategy is aimed at addressing the stolen vehicle racket, stalking and increasing the protection for victims of crime. Safer Australia's nationally focused initiative is intended to complement these objectives. It will provide a consultative mechanism through which the Commonwealth, States and Territories can work together and integrate their crime prevention initiatives and strategies into a successful national approach.
Safer Australia will facilitate a strategic alliance between the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, local government, the business sector and community groups.
Safer Australia will:
Safer Australia will be launched later this year at a forum that will focus on national and community approaches to crime prevention.
The Government will establish a board of well-known Australians, crime prevention experts, and representatives of the three spheres of government to advise the Government with respect to crime prevention and community safety initiatives. A forum will be held to launch the Safer Australia Strategy to allow experts from Australia and overseas, and those with local experience in crime prevention and community safety initiatives, to come together and exchange ideas.
What is a local community safety project? Generally, projects are aimed at particular groups in the community, such as women and the elderly. Successful community programs have been run overseas to address crime prevention and youth. For example, in one community, local government and local businesses organised for alternative weekend activities in the local school for bored teenagers without access to any organised social or sporting activities. This kept the otherwise unoccupied youth out of trouble and also solved the problem of the school being vandalised with graffiti on the weekends. Safer Australia could recommend funding to help schools develop programs to tackle problems young people face, such as bullying and pressure to take drugs.
In Queensland, a study examined the relationship between design, crowding and violence in nightclubs. Six night clubs were examined using data from a private security firm. Results found that crowding has a direct correlation with violence and that violence increases in less well-designed nightclubs. The study provided the basis for the development of guidelines and regulations that could keep crowding to a minimum and stipulate design requirements to minimise opportunities for trouble, such as that entrances and exits from the main nightclub area be through different doorways. Other work in the nightclubs area has led to the development of Codes of Conduct by nightclub owners, covering such practices as discount pricing and the behaviour of bouncers.
Such projects are examples of how local business, concerned citizens and governments can work together on local community safety issues and, through this partnership, develop direct community-based solutions.
The Commonwealth will provide $2.8 million over four years to trial specific crime reduction measures that will have application elsewhere in Australia.Safer Australia will encourage State and local governments, as well as local businesses, to share the cost of funding such measures. In many places, insurance companies see the value in supporting local initiatives, as in the case of the NRMA which sponsors Neighbourhood Watch. Other businesses and local institutions could see value in involving themselves in crime prevention in areas of especially high property crime.
An important example of an alternative crime prevention technique in the juvenile crime prevention area is diversionary conferencing. Diversionary conferencing is a crime prevention technique that has been extensively trialed in Australia and overseas. It involves bringing young offenders together with their victims, so the young person has to face the consequences and effects of his or her crime. Naturally, victims of crime only participate when willing.
This program works successfully because young offenders face the consequences of their acts without entering the crime cycle, which begins with juvenile detention and ends with long-term imprisonment. Reoffending is more likely when a young person has been imprisoned.
Successful diversionary conferencing will lead to a reduction in the number of minor offenders appearing before criminal courts. This means less strain on the resources of the criminal courts and legal aid funding. This, in turn, means more legal aid money is available for the more serious matters for which alternatives to the criminal court process are not available.
Safer Australia will provide financial encouragement to assist States and Territories in extending and refining of these types of initiatives in juvenile crime prevention.
Safer Australia will help fund Australia-wide community safety surveys to develop accurate local pictures of perceptions and concerns about crime and safety. This will involve surveying local populations to assess attitudes towards crime and safety, the extent of local crime and priorities for future local community action. Once a survey has been conducted, the local community will have accurate data upon which to plan and implement an effective crime prevention strategy.
Overseas, safety surveys by local youth groups have encouraged communities to take responsibility for crime prevention. The groups undertake audits of their local areas and identify potential sites and factors that give rise to opportunities for crime to occur, such as isolated dangerous areas near public transport. The community may then take steps to lobby local government to make the area safer. Local business can also be encouraged to contribute towards making the neighbourhood safer.
To develop an effective and comprehensive crime prevention strategy, it is important to understand the types of crimes people most fear and where they fear such crime will take place. One study of this type has already been done in the Queensland shire of Mulgrave. The study examined causes of, and attitudes to, crime. The Mulgrave study found that most people felt safe from crime in their own homes and neighbourhood. But they felt less safe when shopping, in the town centre at night and when approached by strangers.
The project recommended improved lighting in residential side streets and other public areas, improved safety in car parks around local shopping centres and widening the definition of `Safety Houses' for children to include, for example, milk bars in addition to residential houses. New figures released in May 1995 found that, in 1994, nearly 600 children sought help from safe havens across Australia.
Safer Australia will provide $1.2 million over four years for `Community Safety Surveys' in particular areas to identify the causes of crime and the attitudes of local residents to crime.
Studies have shown that fear of crime expressed by residents in a community is greater than suggested by crime statistics for the area. And while there is dispute whether crime is really increasing, there is no doubt that fear of crime is greater than it should be. A West Australian survey asked respondents what percentage of crimes they believed would have involved violence. Only 9% of those surveyed had a realistic appreciation of the extent of violent crime in our community. Most significantly overestimated the proportion of crimes that involve violence.
The media must responsibly represent crime, particularly violent crime, in a way that does not have unintended negative effects, including promoting fear and intolerance. The media should portray crime in a way that is accurate and not sensationalised. Safer Australia will encourage the media to take a more responsible attitude to crime, thereby reducing community fear of crime.
The Government will work with the media to develop a Code of Conduct setting out responsible media practices on covering crime.Safer Australia is about bringing together people with broad experience and knowledge in community safety and crime prevention to develop an action plan and work with the community, helping to improve personal and family security and create a safer society for all Australians.
[1] See `National Women's Justice Strategy'
[2] unreported, April 1995