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Monday, 19 September 2011
Page: 10653

Mr PERRETT (Moreton) (16:51): I commend the member for Werriwa for his contribution and particularly note his mention about the Wall to Wall Ride for Remembrance: 1,200 motorcycles and no speeding tickets given out the entire ride, I am sure, Member for Werriwa. It is a fine thing to acknowledge the almost 200 years of sacrifice by the police.

The Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 is a piece of legislation I have much familiarity with, having been the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, which conducted a short inquiry into this bill. I see the research officer, Mei-Lin Wang, who was seconded to the committee, in the chamber here this afternoon.

The bill proposes a number of significant reforms to streamline and modernise Australia's laws on extradition and mutual assistance. It is the classic balancing act as represented by Lady Justice, with the scales of justice in her left hand and the sword in her right. I am sure you know that statue, Mr Deputy Speaker Slipper, from your time in the law and on the legal affairs committee. The history of the statue is from the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Hellenic deities Themis and Dike and represents their ideas about divine order, law and custom et cetera. I have read that Justitia is a combination of several goddesses who embodied the right rule for the Greeks and Romans: there is the blindfolded Roman Fortuna, which is fate; the Hellenistic Greek Tyche, which is luck; and the sword carrying Nemesis, which is vengeance. Justitia carries the scales of justice and a double-edged sword in her right hand, symbolising power. The blindfold represents justice being handed out objectively and without fear or favour, regardless of identity, money, power or weakness.

Balancing justice is obviously what we as a government are trying to do with this legislation, because it represents a balancing act in acting at the appropriate pace but also making sure that there are appropriate checks and balances so that the minister does not rush through any particular process and so that no foreign country railroads the rights of an individual. It is a classic balancing act in making sure that we look after the appropriate criminal investigations, as mentioned by the member for Werriwa, but also safeguard human rights, especially when we are dealing with international people because obviously they have connections with other nations, have passports and might be inclined to flee. So, in looking at decisions about granting bail, the committee looked closely at the statutory presumption against bail in extradition cases. There needed to be some guiding principles when dealing with federal magistrates and the decisions they make as to whether there is a flight risk, and the committee recommended the government take a very close look at that. We need to consider storage of personal information because—as the member for Werriwa touched on—things have changed a lot in the last 20 years. The computers of 1991 were completely different. The internet was a few years off being broadly available to the world yet now the idea of a world without the internet is preposterous. Consequently, criminals have seen the opportunity. The carpetbaggers of today are sitting on laptops all around the world taking people's information and creaming off money in a way that a burglar in the night taking a couple of silver candles could never dream of.

This bill will make important amendments to Australia's laws. It will give the modern law enforcement agencies modern tools so they can work with foreign countries on investigations and prosecutions. We have also strengthened the protections where there are death penalty or torture concerns because as a nation we hold those activities to be abhorrent. Despite the fluctuating talkback radio treatment of such things, we know that as a nation we need protections against such things, so we are streamlining on the one hand yet on the other hand also putting in the safeguards.

There may be circumstances in which a person can be prosecuted in Australia as an alternative to extradition. We have extended that provision to any person, not just Australian citizens. Rather than a person getting off scot free, they might be prosecuted in Australia not sent to their country where they could face the death penalty or torture. Another technique I think has been used recently in the US is giving people the opportunity, if they so wish, to waive the extradition process, subject to certain safeguards, so that they make informed decisions with their rights being looked after and perhaps getting the appropriate legal advice—that is, in the interests of sorting out some charges or pending charges, letting that person waive the extradition process altogether.

The other thing that this bill does is reduce the time it takes to conduct extradition proceedings. These measures are about reducing duplication of decision-making and cutting through some of the associated red tape, not getting rid of due process or natural justice but making sure that it is a tidier process. The amendments relating to extradition are straightforward. They reduce delays. They allow someone to waive the extradition process. They also allow a person to consent to being surrendered for a wider range of offences as long as there are certain safeguards.

We have modified the definition of 'political offence' to clarify that this ground of refusal does not extend to specified crimes such as terrorism. We all know there will always be arguments as to who is a terrorist. The member for Werriwa commented earlier about some of the police deaths. You only need to look at the various treatments of Ned Kelly. Depending on what side of the law or history people are on, they consign him to either being a brutal murderer or some other sort of character in Australian history.

The legislation changes allow the Attorney-General to give a legally enforceable undertaking to a country as to the maximum sentence that could be imposed on a person if they are extradited to Australia. They strengthen some of the protections against torture concerns and also require Australia to refuse to extradite a person if he or she may be prejudiced by reason of his or her sex or sexual orientation following surrender. This is not something that is a particular issue in Australia, but it is in countries where someone's sex or sexual orientation can cause them to suffer at the hands of the criminal justice system. It is something for us to consider. The amendments relate to mutual assistance. They increase the range of law enforcement tools looking at things like surveillance devices and forensic procedures and make sure there are the appropriate safeguards in place. They also deal with sharing with other countries lawfully obtained telecommunications and make sure that there are protections against death penalty concerns and also the ability to refuse assistance if there are concerns about torture. The bill amends some of the grounds relating to the proceeds of crime actions to make sure that they are more logical. It streamlines the process for authorising the proceeds of crime and allowing registration enforcement of foreign non-conviction based proceeds of crime orders from any country. There is greater sharing between Australia and other appropriately recognised law enforcement agencies around the world. There are also significant changes as transnational crime has changed along with technology, globalisation and the like, and it is important that we respond appropriately. This is a great piece of legislation and I commend the minister for bringing it into the House.