Unexplained Wealth Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
The submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee’s Inquiry into the Unexplained Wealth Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 was prepared by the Law Council.
The Law Council recognises the need for the Commonwealth to develop measures to effectively combat serious and organised crime. The Law Council supports a national scheme for a single unexplained wealth order provided the scheme accords with the rule of law and enables the application for the order to occur in a location which is not unduly inconvenient for the respondent.
However, the Law Council is not satisfied that adequate safeguards have been included to ensure consistency with the rule of law. For these reasons, the Law Council does not support the passage of the Bill in its current form.
The Law Council does not wish to repeat its past advocacy on the general issues raised by this legislation other to state that it supports a comprehensive review of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) (POCA) as contemplated by the 2016 Australian Law Reform Commission’s Traditional Rights and Freedoms – Encroachments on Commonwealth Laws Report. It is particularly important that any review of the POCA ensures consistency with fundamental rule of law principles.
You can read the full submission below.