Senate

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs Senator the Honourable Chris Ellison)

General outline and financial impact

General outline

The Customs Act 1901 (Customs Act) includes serious drug offences, such as drug importation offences. The maximum penalties for those offences vary depending on the quantity of drug involved. Offences involving 'trafficable quantities' of prescribed drugs carry penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment, whereas those involving 'commercial quantities' of prescribed drugs carry penalties of up to life imprisonment. The different penalty levels reflect the relative seriousness of, for example, importing a commercial quantity of a drug compared to importing a smaller trafficable quantity.

The drugs to which the offences apply, and the corresponding quantities, are set out in schedule VI to the Customs Act. That schedule does not prescribe commercial quantities for all of the listed drugs.

Recently, there have been instances where large quantities of drugs for which the Customs Act does not prescribe a commercial quantity have been imported into Australia. In the absence of a prescribed commercial quantity, it has not been possible for judges to consider imposing life imprisonment penalties and they have been limited to the maximum penalty for offences involving trafficable quantities, being 25 years imprisonment. In recent cases involving the importation of large quantities of methylamphetamine, courts have commented on the unavailability of the full spectrum of penalties in the determination of appropriate sentences.

The Bill will prescribe commercial quantities for all those drugs in Schedule VI of the Customs Act for which a commercial quantity is not currently prescribed. This will ensure that judges have appropriate sentencing discretion in relation to drug importation offences involving large quantities of drugs.

Financial impact

There is no financial impact flowing directly from the offence provisions in this Bill.