An elected Dutton Coalition Government will launch Operation Safer Communities to crack down on crime from the border to the backyard by investing more than $750 million through a comprehensive national package.
This package includes a National Drug Enforcement and Organised Crime Strike Team backed by $355 million in additional resourcing to ensure the scourge of illicit drugs can be dealt with by law enforcement agencies at a national level. We will put dedicated Australian Federal Police teams in each state and territory led by a national leadership group, and supported by specialist financial investigative and prosecutorial teams.
We anticipate a significant increase in the seizure of criminal assets and proceeds of crime, which we will reinvest into communities. This means every dollar seized from drug dealers and criminal cartels will go towards helping the families and communities devastated by their crimes.
Under the Albanese Labor Government, our national security has been degraded and crime allowed to fester. Labor has undermined Operation Sovereign Borders, weakening our first line of protection.
Anthony Albanese’s weak leadership has allowed organised crime to proliferate, fed by a growing trade in drugs, and illicit tobacco and vapes, which has resulted in a spate of violent crimes in our suburbs.
Through Operation Safer Communities, a Dutton Coalition Government will take immediate action to stamp out crime, including:
- introducing tough new laws to disrupt organised criminal syndicates, including by streamlining and enhancing proceeds of crime and unexplained wealth laws, and harmonising national drug laws to close gaps and improve cross-border police cooperation;
- upgrading Australia’s screening and detection capabilities to intercept drugs at the border before they make it into our communities;
- cracking down on the importation and distribution of date-rape drugs used in drink spiking incidents;
- providing $7.5 million over three years in additional funding to Crime Stoppers to expand its operations and protect more Australians from the impacts of crime in local communities;
- doubling funding for the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation;
- introducing a pilot of a National Child Sex Offenders Disclosure Scheme to protect our children and provide more information to parents about the risks in their communities and the precautions they need to take;
- investing $6 million in e-safety education through the Alannah and Madeline Foundation;
- introducing national ‘post and boast’ laws to make it illegal to post social media material glamourising involvement in criminal activity and ban offenders from using social media for up to two years;
- working with jurisdictions to standardise knife crime laws based on Jack’s law, and funding a national roll-out of detector wands to empower police to get weapons off our streets;
- restoring the Safer Communities Fund to support local projects to improve social cohesion and secure our communities;
- reintroducing fast-track processes for visa appeals to address bad actors overstaying their visas and exploiting the system to stay in Australia;
- taking real action to address the evil of antisemitism, including by creating a new, dedicated antisemitism taskforce led by the AFP and bringing together Commonwealth agencies and state and territory police.
- cracking down on corruption and organised crime in the construction industry.
The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Peter Dutton MP, said the Albanese Labor Government’s weak leadership and bad decisions have compromised community safety.
“Australians feel less safe than they did three years ago and that’s because community safety has been neglected under Labor. I have the experience and determination to stand up to the outlaw motorcycle gangs and organised crime syndicates which are wreaking havoc on our streets and in our communities.
“These crime gangs are selling drugs to the people who are breaking into homes and stealing valuables to pay for their drug habit. They are the people who are purchasing your car when it’s stolen from your home.
“I will strengthen laws and provide more funding for our police and intelligence agencies to stop the crime gangs, protect our borders, and protect our community.
“Labor has failed on community safety. Only the Coalition has a plan to address the community safety crisis in our country and make our neighbourhoods safe from crime.”
Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, said “Anthony Albanese is soft on crime. He has completely ignored the crime wave affecting many parts of Australia and has been silent about the overt criminal activity by the CFMEU. Australians need a Prime Minister who will take community safety seriously.
“Peter Dutton has a history of being tough on criminals and will ensure Australians are better protected if he is elected Prime Minister.”
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Senator James Paterson, said “Under Labor, Australian communities are less safe and less protected. The Albanese Labor Government has abrogated its responsibility to stamp out the crime and illicit drugs ravaging our communities.
“Only an elected Dutton Coalition Government has the strength and conviction to take the decisive action required to cripple the organised crime business model and clean up the violence on our streets.”
A Dutton Coalition Government will take the strong and decisive action required to keep our communities safe and get Australia back on track.