Chapter 1


Introduction

Committee's duty to examine reports

1.1        The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement (the committee) has a statutory duty to examine each annual report of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) under the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010 (the Act). Subsection 7(1) of the Act includes the following functions of the committee in relation to the ACC:

...(c) to examine each annual report on the ACC and report to the Parliament on any matter appearing in, or arising out of, any such annual report...[1]

1.2        The Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Act 2016 amended the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 to implement the inclusion of CrimTrac within the ACC. The changes were implemented in 1 July 2016 and the ACC is now known as the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC).[2]

1.3        The annual report examined in this committee report covers the period before the ACC changed name to the ACIC and merged with CrimTrac. For consistency, this report will refer to the ACC.

Purpose

1.4        The duty of the committee to examine annual reports of the ACC under the Act stems from an expectation that agencies which have been granted strong coercive powers, like the ACC and Australian Federal Police (AFP) should be subject to additional oversight. At the time of the introduction of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Bill 2010, the then Attorney-General noted that the bill would exemplify the 'commitment to improving oversight and accountability in relation to the exercise of the functions of Commonwealth agencies'.[3]

Report under consideration

1.5        The ACC's Annual Report 2014–15 (the annual report) was presented to the Minister for Justice, the Hon Michael Keenan MP, on 22 October 2015. It was presented to the House of Representatives on 23 November 2015[4] and tabled in the Senate on 23 November 2015.[5]

Examination of the annual report

1.6        In examining the ACC annual report, the committee held a public hearing at Parliament House, Canberra on 24 February 2016. The witnesses who appeared before the committee are listed in Appendix 1.

Structure of the committee report

1.7        The committee's report comprises the following chapters:

  • chapter 2 examines ACC compliance with annual report requirements and the ACC's financial management;
  • chapter 3 considers the ACC's performance against its Key Performance Indicators; and
  • chapter 4 details issues raised with the ACC in the hearing, as well as major operational information of interest to the committee over the reporting period.

Acknowledgements

1.8        The committee also acknowledges the cooperation of the ACC officials who assisted the committee in conducting its examination.

Note on references

1.9        References to the committee Hansard are to the official Hansard.

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