Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator the Honourable Chris Ellison)Crimes Act Amendment (Forensic Procedures) Bill (No.1) 2006
GENERAL OUTLINE
The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that inter-jurisdictional DNA profile matching, using the National Criminal Investigation DNA Database (NCIDD), may be implemented by all corresponding law jurisdictions within Australia. The Crimes Act Amendment (Forensic Procedures) Bill (No. 1) 2006 (the Bill) will address specific impediments, raised by the States and Territories, which hitherto have prevented inter-jurisdictional DNA profile matching.
The Bill was introduced into the Parliament on 21 June 2006 and was subsequently referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee, which reported on the Bill on 1 August 2006.
The proposed Government amendment implements the Senate Committee recommendation. The proposed Government amendments also address specific concerns raised by the States and Territories after the introduction of the Bill.
The principal new features of the proposed amendments to this Bill are:
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- Expanding the access of State/Territory officials to the NCIDD database
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- Aligning the permissible matching of DNA profiles under Commonwealth legislation with other jurisdictions, and
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- Clarifying that Ministerial arrangements can also deal with transmission of information to and from NCIDD.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact flowing directly from the offence provisions in this Bill.