Use of Regulatory Regimes in Preventing the Infiltration of Organised Crime into Lawful Occupations and Industries
On 26 August 2015, the Law Council of Australia (Law Council) provided substantive submissions to the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s (the VLR Commission) Inquiry into the Use of Regulatory Regimes in Preventing the Infiltration of Organised Crime into Lawful Occupations and Industries (the Inquiry)
The Law Council acknowledges the opportunity to further assist the VLR Commission. This supplementary submission will focus on matters that have arisen since August 2015.
On 30 October 2015 the Queensland Organised Crime Commission of Inquiry released its Report1 into organised crime in Queensland (the QOCC Report). In formulating its recommendations (particularly, with respect the alleged involvement in organised crime of legal practitioners), the QOCC appears to have given primacy to material found in certain publications of the Australian Transactions and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In its earlier submissions, the Law Council raised concerns with the VLR Commission about the material relied upon in those publications. The Law Council submitted that it lacked cogency, relevance and contemporaneousness- the collective effect of which undermined the confidence and reliance that could be placed on the conclusions reached therein, particularly in purporting to reflect the present state of affairs in the Australian context.
The Law Council is working with its constituent bodies in Queensland to raise these very concerns with the relevant authorities in Queensland.