Committee’s duty to examine annual reports
1.1
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement (the committee) has a statutory duty to examine each annual report of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), formally known as the Australian Crime Commission (ACC), under the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010 (PJCLE Act).
1.2
Section 7 of the PJCLE Act requires the committee to monitor and review the ACIC’s performance, examine each of its annual reports, consider any trends or changes in criminal activities, and report to the Parliament on any matter or changes it thinks desirable pertaining to the function, performance, structure, powers, and procedures of the agency.
1.3
The duty of the committee to examine annual reports of the ACIC under the Act stems from an expectation that agencies which have been granted strong coercive powers, such as the ACIC, should be subject to additional oversight.
Exemptions
1.4
Subsections 7(2)(b), (c), (d), and (f) of the PJCLE Act precludes the committee from:
reconsidering the findings of the ACIC in relation to a particular operation/investigation;
reviewing sensitive operational information or methods available to the ACIC;
reviewing particular operations or investigations either past, present, or proposed; and
conducting inquiries into individual complaints about the activities of the ACIC.
About the ACIC
1.5
The ACIC is a statutory authority with investigative and information delivery functions. It is established by section 7 of the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (ACC Act). The ACIC began operating on 1 July 2016 when the former Australian Crime Commission and CrimTrac merged, and the agency is still known as the ACC for legal purposes.
Purpose and functions
1.6
The ACIC's purpose as Australia's national criminal intelligence agency is ‘to protect Australia from criminal threats through coordinating a strategic response and collecting, assessing and disseminating intelligence and policing information’.
1.7
The ACIC works closely with national and international partners ‘to conduct investigations, collect intelligence and furnish advice and assessments to combat serious and organised crime’. Furthermore, the ACIC ‘shares criminal intelligence and information between all federal, state and territory law enforcement agencies’.
1.8
Section 7A of the ACC Act outlines the ACIC’s functions:
collects, correlates, analyses and disseminates criminal intelligence and information;
maintains a national criminal intelligence database;
develops strategic criminal intelligence assessments and advice on national criminal intelligence priorities;
conducts special ACIC investigations and special ACIC operations;
provides and maintains systems that allow information sharing for policing and law enforcement agencies; and
provides nationally coordinated criminal history checks and conducts criminal intelligence assessments.
ACIC Board
1.9
The ACIC Board is established by section 7B of the ACC Act. It is comprised of senior officeholders of Commonwealth, state and territory law enforcement bodies and key regulator and national security agencies.
1.10
In line with section 7C of the ACC Act, the ACIC Board provides strategic direction to the ACIC, decides the agency’s priorities and national criminal intelligence priorities, determines which investigations and intelligence operations are authorised to use the ACIC’s coercive powers, and makes recommendations about charges for national policing information services.
Objectives
1.11
The ACIC’s strategic direction sets out its objectives, which underpin how the agency plans, operates, and measures its performance. During 2021-22, the ACIC had four objectives, including:
be the trusted source of criminal intelligence;
provide comprehensive Commonwealth and policing intelligence;
keep the community safe; and
deliver a sustainable agency.
Specialist capabilities
1.12
The ACIC stated that it has a range of capabilities to perform its functions and achieve its purpose. These capabilities include:
National criminal intelligence data holdings—the ACIC collects criminal intelligence and combines it with information and intelligence from partner agencies to create and share a comprehensive national and international picture of criminality impacting Australia.
National information and intelligence sharing services and systems—the ACIC provides timely and reliable police and law enforcement information and services. Through consultation and collaboration, it develops new and innovative capabilities.
Coercive powers—ACIC examiners may exercise coercive powers, similar to those of a royal commission, during a special ACIC operation or special ACIC investigation.
International collaboration—the ACIC collaborates with international law enforcement and intelligence partners and deploys ACIC officers to countries of strategic importance to counteract serious and organised crime impacting Australia.
Strategic products—the ACIC produces strategic intelligence products on criminality impacting Australia to support its partners in decision-making, strategic targeting, and policy development.
Australian Priority Organisation Target List—the ACIC focuses on identifying and assessing serious and organised criminal entities who pose the greatest harm to Australia’s interests and enables the ACIC to work with partners to coordinate national operational responses.
Legislative framework allowing appropriate data sharing—the ACIC shares intelligence, information, resources and expertise with its partners and private industry where permitted and appropriate to maximise the collective impact against crime. It is a conduit between the states and territories and the Commonwealth for sharing criminal intelligence and information.
Specialist technology and skills—the ACIC’s work is underpinned by sophisticated and tailored intelligence gathering and analytical capabilities.
Accountability
1.13
During 2020-21 and 2021-22, the ACIC sat within the Home Affairs Portfolio and reported to the Minister for Home Affairs. In July 2022, in line with Machinery of Government changes, the ACIC transferred to the
Attorney-General’s portfolio and reports to the Attorney-General.
Reports under consideration and conduct of the inquiry
1.14
The committee examines each annual report of the ACIC and canvasses a range of contemporary issues relating to the agency at a public hearing. On this occasion, the committee examined the following two ACIC annual reports:
Annual report 2020-2021—covering the reporting period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.
It was presented to the then Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Karen Andrews MP, on 16 September 2021, and was tabled in the Senate and the House of Representatives on 19 October 2021.
Annual report 2021-22—covering the reporting period from 1 July 2021 to
30 June 2022.
It was presented to the Attorney-General, Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, on 16 September 2022, and was tabled in the Senate and the House of Representatives on 25 October 2022.
1.15
On 25 November 2022, the committee held a public hearing to examine the two ACIC annual reports and heard evidence from ACIC officials. A list of witnesses is provided in Appendix 1.
Structure of the report
1.16
In addition to this introductory chapter, the committee's examination report comprises a second chapter that considers the ACIC’s performance during 2020-21 and 2021-22, including:
operational highlights and key corporate developments;
the performance framework and results; and
a concluding committee view of the ACIC’s performance.
Acknowledgements
1.17
The ACIC Annual Report 2021-22 noted that it would be the last annual report from Mr Michael Phelan APM as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ACIC. Mr Phelan was the CEO of the ACIC and Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology for five years.
1.18
The committee acknowledges the cooperation of the ACIC officials who assisted with the committee’s examination of the annual reports.