The federal government is set to merge two of Australia’s leading law enforcement and criminal information agencies to create a ‘super agency’ with joint information-sharing and analysis capability to pursue and undermine evolving national security threats.
According to a press release from Justice Minister Michael Keenan, a decision was reached by State and Territory Attorneys-General and Police Ministers at today’s Law, Crime and Community Safety Council (LCCSC) to merge CrimTrac and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC). The Commonwealth will work towards getting the newly merged agency up and running by 1 July 2016.
The first stage of establishing the new agency is already underway, following the announcement on September 25 of the Australian Institute of Criminology being merged into the ACC. Legislation to facilitate the move has been listed for debate in the next week of Parliament.