Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015: Key Provisions

Thursday 13 August 2015 @ 11.37 a.m. | Crime

The Commonwealth House of Representatives has passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015, which will now be considered by the Senate.  As previously reported by TimeBase, the Bill proposes a broad range of changes to various pieces of crimes legislation, including the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (Criminal Code).

Some of the key amendments proposed by the Bill are changes to the Criminal Code that deal with forced marriage, ice importation offences and foreign bribery.

Forced Marriage

Forced marriage has been identified as an increasing problem in Australia, with the Labor Government introducing laws in 2013 to make it illegal to coerce, threaten or deceive a person into marriage. ABC News reports that since 2013 there has been at least 250 children forced into marriage, according to research conducted by Plan international Australia.

Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, said in a press release that “forced marriage is an insidious and hidden crime. It is illegal and there is no place for it in Australia”.

The new amendments included in the Bill will toughen existing laws on forced marriage by broadening its definition and introducing harsher penalties. Section 270.7A of the Criminal Code will be amended to include forced marriages that are the result of coercion, threat or deception as well as cases where the victim is incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage. The latter amendment has been introduced due to anecdotal evidence suggesting that people with intellectual disabilities are more vulnerable to forced marriages.

Penalties will also be increased by amending section 270.7B to include seven years imprisonment for non-aggravated marriage offences whereas previously the offence carried four years imprisonment. The new penalty structure is in line with slavery related offences under section 270.7.

Precursor Importations for Drugs

Division 307 of the Criminal Code contains offences for importing and exporting precursors that can be used to make illicit drugs. Currently, the prosecution is required to prove that the person who imported or exported the substance intended to manufacture the controlled substance or was aware it was for that purpose.  The prosecution has experienced difficulty in such cases, and the new amendments remove the intention element to make the prosecution’s case easier to execute.

The Minister for Justice said:

“[the] changes mean it will be sufficient for the prosecution to show that a middle-man – busted as part of a drug operation – was always aware there was a risk they were part of an attempt to import illicit drugs”.

This week, the media has reported on the case of a 91 year old man from Sydney who was found with five kilograms of cocaine inside soap bars on his return from a holiday in Delhi.  SBS News has reported that the police believe that retired surgeon Victor Twartz was “legitimately scammed” by an online organised crime syndicate into attempting to import the drugs into Australia.

Groups such as the Law Council of Australia and Liberty Victoria have also voiced their concerns about the changes in light of the severe maximum penalties for cases where intent cannot be proved. They suggest the more appropriate course of action would be a charge of possession under State laws.

Foreign Bribery

Division 70 of the Criminal Code makes it a crime to bribe foreign public officials. The provision is a direct result of Australia’s obligation under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention that was signed in 1999.

In 2012, the provision underwent a review by the OECD Working Group on Bribery which found “serious concerns that overall enforcement of the foreign bribery offence to date has been extremely low”.

The new amendments seek to rectify these problems by changing the intention requirement under the Criminal Code. As it stands, section 70.2 of the Criminal Code requires that the defendant must have intended to influence a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business, or an illegitimate business advantage. As part of recommendations from the Working Group on Bribery, subsection 70.2(1A) will be repealed making it unnecessary to show that the defendant actually intended to influence a particular foreign public official.

The Minister for Justice said the measure will “close a loophole that allowed a defendant to avoid prosecution by arguing they did not intend to bribe a foreign official, because they did not know the identity of that official, even though a bribe was paid”.

TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.

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