Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026
Senator O'SULLIVAN (Western Australia—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (19:08): I rise to speak on the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026. As my colleagues have indicated in their contributions, the coalition will not oppose the bulk of this bill. While it mostly contains technical or procedural amendments to various legislation, the changes to the operational capabilities of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, ACIC, warrant further scrutiny.
ACIC's current ability to apply for data disruption warrants enables it to interfere directly with data used by serious and organised criminals and disrupt criminal communications, degrade criminal platforms and undermine the ability of criminal networks to operate effectively. The removal of ACIC's ability to obtain these warrants is not a minor change. It should not just be bundled into an omnibus bill.
That is why the opposition will move an amendment to this bill to ensure that major changes to Australia's peak national body for criminal intelligence are considered through the appropriate legislative vehicle and receive specialist parliamentary scrutiny. The amendment will call on the government to incorporate part 3 of schedule 1 into the targeted Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026, which is currently before the parliament.
We will move amendments so that expanded extradition arrest powers for the police remain subject to appropriate parliamentary review. Let's be clear: this bill further exposes the Albanese government's underdelivery of long-promised reform to Australia's electronic surveillance framework. Yet again, Australians have been left unnecessarily vulnerable because of a government that will only act in reaction, not in anticipation.
As shadow minister for child protection and the prevention of family violence, I want to say that I support part 3 of schedule 1 of the bill, which would extend agency account takeover warrants, data disruption warrants, network activity warrants and related emergency authorisations for a further three years, until 4 September 2029. In light of recent horrific high-profile cases of child sexual abuse, the importance of these matters cannot be overstated.
I'm proud to say that it was the former coalition government who introduced these powers in 2021 because serious organised crime, child exploitation networks, drug-trafficking syndicates and other criminal enterprises were increasingly operating online and exploiting encrypted platforms and sophisticated digital technologies. It was occurring. The amendments in this section of the bill would give effect to aspects of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor's review of the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021.
The monitor outlined in its report how SLA(ID) Act warrants are 'used in circumstances where other warrants would have been ineffective and where regulatory action would have been insufficient'. With significant technological advancements since the SLA(ID) Act came into effect, including in artificial intelligence, there is more need than ever for effective and efficient action to respond to cybercriminals, who are a threat to vulnerable Australians, especially our most vulnerable: our children.
Recent cases have shown these threats not only exist online but can reach into the very places to which families entrust the care of their children. The recent allegations have been a stark reminder that the threat of child exploitation can reach well beyond the online world into those very trusted settings, which include child care. No parent should have to spend their working day wondering whether their child is safe in child care, yet, after a series of horrific allegations, that fear is now very real for families across Australia.
Two weeks ago, opposition leader Angus Taylor called for a national childcare perpetrator register. He joined Bruce and Denise Morcombe, the parents of Daniel Morcombe, and Childcare Choice in writing to the Prime Minister, urging the government to establish one. Right now, parents can be left piecing together media reports and social media posts to determine whether an alleged offender ever worked in their child's childcare centre.
This is, of course, a very distressing time. Parents see that there's a media report about a childcare centre that their child may have been in and it correlates and lines up with the time their child was potentially in that childcare centre. Of course, for the vast majority, almost 100 per cent, of families that would have intersected with the alleged perpetrator's time working at that childcare centre, the police would have been in touch with that family already.
But for those that are unaware of police processes and what occurs, they simply see the media reporting. They see that the childcare centre where their child has been is listed, and then that anxiety that they experience and feel is through the roof because they are worried about whether their child's time intersected with this worker's time in that childcare centre.
As I said, almost 100 per cent of those families have not needed to have worried because the police would have already been in touch, but they don't know that. What Mr Taylor has asked for, and what the Morcombe Foundation and Childcare Choice have asked for, is a national register of perpetrators to be available that parents can see very clearly. If there's a media report, they can go online—on a trusted, government website—and see whether or not the timing of their child being in a childcare centre where this alleged perpetrator has been working correlates at all, and their fear would be allayed.
It's a way of dealing with it in a very timely and quick way. Under the current system, what we're left with is a situation where parents are just left with media reports. They've got to wait until the morning so they can ring the childcare centre, and time goes on before they actually realise.
For the childcare centre, for the parents and for everyone involved, it's an inefficient way of dealing with that anxiety and that stress that has occurred. No family should have to go through that. No family should have to deal with the fear of whether or not their child was involved with one of these perpetrators that exist.
We think it's something the government could do very simply. It's not something that would take a great deal of time to implement, and we'd encourage the government to do it. Families that I've spoken to are stunned that such a system does not already exist.
Simply relying on media reports or on social media to get information out there is not okay, and the government could take the steps that are necessary to ensure that it was very, very clear. Australians agree. A Daily Telegraph poll recently found that 73 per cent of Australians support the call for a transparent public childcare perpetrator register.
Parents deserve this transparency about who has been entrusted with the care of their children, and the coalition stands ready to work with the government. We understand that it would need to be designed in a way that was ensuring the presumption of innocence was clear and that it didn't in any way impede law enforcement's ability to prosecute and go through what they need to through the courts.
We think that an individual with a serious charge of a child exploitation crime should have their name listed on a website so that parents can have that understanding of exactly where they have worked. This is something that we encourage the government to consider and something the coalition stands ready to work with the government on. Back to this legislation, extending these powers for another three years is necessary, but a sunset extension is not a substitute for comprehensive reform.
Some of the recent cases of abuse occurred while these warrant powers were in effect. It's clear that a holistic approach is required. We must ensure that childcare workers receive proper training and fair compensation.
Screening must be thorough to identify and prevent from working anyone with a relevant history or who may pose a risk to children's safety. There must continue to be swift intervention and strong justice responses for offenders, and there must be robust reporting to allow childcare providers and parents to make informed decisions about childcare safety. Extending the cyber warrant powers in schedule 1, part 3, of the omnibus bill is an important step to ensuring that criminals operating online understand they cannot exploit Australians without facing the full force of the law.
The coalition supports the practical and operational improvements contained in this bill. We support extending the cyber disruption powers because they remain necessary and effective, and we support ensuring that Australia's police, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the capabilities that they need to keep Australians safe. But we also insist that significant changes to the operational capabilities of ACIC receive specialist parliamentary scrutiny and that the expanded extradition arrest powers are reviewed after commencement.
This is precisely what the opposition amendments seek to achieve. We hope that the government will support these amendments. The coalition will not oppose the bill but urges the government to support these very practical amendments to ensure the long-term sustainability and truth of this bill.