Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (16:36): I rise to make a brief contribution this afternoon on the Confiscation Amendment (Unexplained Wealth) Bill 2024. This bill before us today is, I would say, the third pathway in a set based on the original intent and content and amendments to the Confiscation Act 1997 that came through the Liberal-Nationals coalition in 2014, which was looking to gain back to the state ill-gotten gains obtained by people through criminal activity. We have heard a fairly extensive debate on this, so I will not drill down into the weeds like my very good colleague Mr Mulholland, who was the lead speaker, and indeed Dr Heath who spoke eloquently about the CFMEU and the ill-gotten gains from corruption, from deceit and from big bosses creaming the system, facilitated, aided and abetted by the state government, the Allan Labor government. I want to drill down into some context of the Eastern Victoria Region, but I will provide that shortly.
In the previous 2014 bill the Director of Public Prosecutions certainly was enabled and facilitated the right and the pathway if there was reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and unlawful appropriation – acquiring of property through two different pathways: one was personal and one was a property pathway. The personal was that that person had gained property of over $50,000 in value from a suspected criminal activity, and the second one was any property of any value not lawfully acquired. VicPol was required to provide an affidavit – so a legal document – stating their grounds for this unexplained wealth, and provide that to the DPP, and the DPP would then issue an unexplained wealth restraining order to reclaim that funding back, or that wealth back that was obtained through ill-gotten gains. Now, if there was no clear evidence that there was ownership of that property by the said offenders, and that could not be established within six months, then that property could then be returned to the state.
Well, this next part of that tranche is at a separate time, 10 years later, and in a separate government. Indeed, during that first tranche the then opposition, the Labor Party, supported this round back in 2014. So this next proposed pathway relates to how the DPP can apply to the court for an unexplained wealth order if there are reasonable grounds, and we will investigate that, to suspect that a person’s wealth exceeds their lawfully acquired wealth by at least $200,000 – but they do not have to be suspected of any criminal activity. In amending this act and adding that third pathway the government is looking to strengthen those laws to better target and orchestrate those who are found involved with organised crime. As we can see, we read it in the papers and we see it on our televisions, and if we look at the crime stats, particularly for the Eastern Victoria Region, to my interest, unfortunately the crime stats are going up, offending is going up and organised crime is a well-oiled machine under the Allan Labor government.
The Crown is not obliged to prove that there is a direct nexus between this unexplained wealth and criminal activity. We have heard Mr Mulholland go into detail about the concern that the Victorian Bar have had and also the Law Institute of Victoria, and indeed part of that concern by the law institute is that they feel that this bill’s criteria are insupportably broad and that there could be unintended consequences for family members of subjects, who may have limited or no knowledge about the source of the subject’s wealth owing to the subject’s control of the family finances. There could be unintended consequences and indeed victims in this scenario.
Henceforth and otherwise, my other colleague Mr Michael O’Brien, our Shadow Attorney-General, has put up some very reasonable amendments, one being a reasoned amendment, to allay the concerns and to address the Victorian Bar – now, they are quite considered people; I think they may be a bit left of centre from time to time, but they are astute in their assessments – to enable, if we have this reasoned amendment, that the government can actually do their due diligence, not just wander through but actually investigate with the Victorian Bar and the law institute, have those conversations and allay those concerns with this bill, a reasonable and appropriate measure.
Overall, we do not want to see this bill fail, but we do want those safeguards and conditions addressed, and also the Liberals and Nationals would like to see a review. Too often we have this government pass legislation and then off it goes into the ether without a fulsome, comprehensive assessment of the facts: is it picking up, is it collecting those criminals that it should be, is there good governance around it and how is it doing? And indeed, our textual amendment coming up in the committee of the whole will look to have a three-year review, so I ask the house to support that as well.
What we do know is that Victoria Police are often overstretched. I have spoken with police in my Eastern Victoria electorate, and the thin blue line is getting thinner and thinner every day. I mean no disrespect to our very hardworking VicPol in our regions and across the state, but I think many Victorians would be quite concerned about how thin that line is. I know I speak to members of my community in Lang Lang who are frustrated by increasing crime in their region and down the street – just regular, recalcitrant, inappropriate social behaviour as well as petty crime et cetera – and they just cannot seem to get police when they need them into their communities.
I also certainly acknowledge the fact that Victoria Police really want to look at addressing serious crime – and we do have a major crime problem in this state – and look at those Mr Bigs and those quite often drug-related crimes where they can be the third person back on the left and really have that shield and invisible relation to those crimes because they have their minions working under them. One of the concerns I have about this government’s decision – and I know they are debating it in the lower house at the moment – to raise the age of criminality, raise that age, is that this will only embolden those Mr Bigs, those drug barons, to get these minions to work for them further and further, to reach into youth crime and to manipulate and drive that youth crime, knowing that there is impunity if this legislation goes through.
This does not serve those young people, and it does not serve the victims of crime, of which there are many and varied in my electorate. I will look to some actual statistics coming up, but I also want to put on record my heartfelt thanks to the family of Ashley Gordon, who have had the absolute tragedy of the death of their beloved brother, son, uncle et cetera. His family come from the Latrobe Valley. The death was related to a home invasion, and again those were youths in that situation. It is not directly related, but those youths could have been working for the Mr Bigs to invade and to access valuable items and steal them as part of a bigger syndicate, and that could well have involved these unrelated criminal activities and ill-gotten gains and misappropriated gains, for sure.
In relation to my Eastern Victoria Region, there are some alarming statistics; it is going the wrong way. These are very sobering statistics by the Crime Statistics Agency. From March 2015 to March 2024, nine years under Labor, we can see that in relation to obtaining benefit through deception, and this could very much be captured by this bill – ill-gotten gains, acquiring assets, acquiring financial benefit and obtaining benefit through deception. We see that through Cardinia, Bass, Baw Baw, South Gipplsand, Latrobe Valley, Wellington, East Gippsland and Mornington. If we add them all together, we can see that there has been a 74 per cent increase in obtaining benefit through deception – crime – under the Labor government. Indeed it is 74 per cent across that region, but if we look at it statewide, that percentage is 33 per cent. So we are well over double those statistics, and it might read to a few things: certainly that crime is, I hate to say, blossoming in the country and also that there is desperation, that there is opportunity and that, as I said, VicPol is stretched far beyond this government’s fair and reasonable protection and resource management. In relation to theft, we can also see that there have been some significant increases in Cardinia – double the state average. In Baw Baw it is double the state average as well. So there is theft, and that can also be captured by this bill.
The other point that gives me no joy whatsoever is in terms of drug trafficking. We see that Wellington shire has an increase of 73 per cent under this Andrews-cum-Allan Labor government – not a statistic that we rejoice in in the Wellington shire – and East Gippsland shire has had a 24 per cent increase over the nine years under Labor. We also see that we have fake tradies, scammers, con men – or women, as the case may be. We see fraud ever on the increase, and we have stock theft. There are thousands and thousands of dollars lost in stock theft, and that can be anything off the farm. Also certainly there is drug trafficking as well.
In conclusion, as I said, I ask the house to certainly consider our amendments most sincerely. I think they are reasonable and appropriate. We do want to see this bill go forward, but we also want those concerns about unintended consequences addressed. When we look at unexplained wealth we can see that there have also been well and truly unexplained budget blowouts under this government. We see the Premier has been making the decisions on these key projects in central Melbourne – these digging projects, these major projects.
We can see that she has been the Minister for Major Projects. She signed off on the Suburban Rail Loop, the West Gate Tunnel and the North East Link. They are unexplained and they are a burden to our communities, and they will be a burden to Victorians for decades to come when you have got $40 billion in blowouts. If this bill will help to reclaim some of that, well and good. We also wonder very strongly about how much of that is lining the CFMEU bosses’ pockets – their misappropriation of taxpayer funds. The kickbacks are enormous. As I said, please consider the Liberals and Nationals amendments to this bill.
