AGAINST THE NATIONAL INTEREST: A CRITIQUE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S PROPOSAL TO REPLACE THE NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY
The abolition of the National Crime Authority (NCA) will create a serious
gap in Australian crime fighting capacity. The Australian Crime Commission (ACC)
as envisaged lacks two elements of the National Crime Authority that are essential to
tackle and establish the facts about organised crime, namely:
- independence; and
- tight, efficient governance.
These are qualities required of a standing Royal Commission which is what the NCA
is and the ACC will not be. The new commission will not be independent because it
will be under the direct control of police commissioners and other law enforcement
agencies which are themselves subject to substantial political direction.