Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Justice, the Hon Michael Keenan MP)Notes on Clauses
Background
1. This Bill implements the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council's decision that the Commonwealth take steps to implement a merger of the CrimTrac Agency (CrimTrac) with the Australian Crime Commission (ACC).
2. This merger represents an important step in ensuring that Australia's law enforcement agencies are put in the best possible position to prevent, detect and respond to crime in Australia.
3. The Bill amends the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (Cth)(ACC Act) to enable the ACC to perform CrimTrac's functions, including providing national coordinated criminal history checks.
Preliminary
Clause 1 - Short title
4. This clause provides for the Bill to be cited as the Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Act 2015 after its enactment.
Clause 2 - Commencement
5. This clause set outs when the various parts of the Bill are to commence.
6. Item 1 in the table provides that the whole Bill will commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation. If the provisions do not commence before 1 July 2016, they will commence on that day. This is because the beginning of the financial year is the most appropriate time for the proposed machinery of government changes to occur, if another date is not fixed by Proclamation.
Clause 3 - Schedules
7. This is a formal clause that provides that the Schedules to the Act amend the Acts as set out in the relevant Schedule.