The Minns Labor Government is introducing further legislation to strengthen integrity and crack down on crime and corruption across NSW.
It follows the Opposition and the Greens last week teaming up to block the passage of these important reforms to remove barriers to investigate wrongdoing.
The Liberals and Nationals must explain why they have so far refused to give our investigative agencies the tools they need to combat crime and corruption.
On Thursday, the Government will introduce a fresh public interest exception to shield from prosecution those who come into the possession of an unlawfully made recording and share it promptly with an investigative agency.
As with the previous bill, this exception will only apply if the person or body was not involved in making the unlawful recording.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) currently has an exemption by way of regulation under the Surveillance Devices Regulation 2022 which allows it to utilise unlawful recordings.
This expires in June 2026 and does not extend to other investigative agencies. There is also no protection for anyone who seeks to report unlawfully obtained surveillance recordings which contain evidence of wrongdoing to ICAC or any other authority.
It will allow agencies such as ICAC and NSW Police to receive and rely on otherwise unlawful surveillance recordings to prosecute criminal and corrupt behaviour.
The reforms will not allow someone to record another person without consent and trespass will remain a criminal offence.
The Minns Labor Government hopes sense prevails and NSW Parliament facilitates the passage of measured, sensible reforms to fight crime and corruption.
Special Minister of State John Graham said:
“These are sensible reforms aimed at fighting corruption. It’s difficult to understand why the NSW Liberals would continue to stand in the way of that.
“This will give our integrity agencies more power to investigate crime and corruption, and people who come into possession of otherwise unlawful surveillance will be able to pass it on to the appropriate authorities if they were not involved in creating the recording.
“This is about making the people of NSW safer from crime and corruption, and when it does occur, this legislative gives our investigative agencies more power to hold bad actors to account.”
Attorney General Michael Daley said:
“The Opposition and Greens should explain why they voted down efforts to protect those seeking to report evidence of crime and corruption in the public interest.
“Why don’t they want our investigative agencies to have every tool possible to investigate corruption and crime?
“This bill enshrines in law a temporary exemption that exists for ICAC, makes it permanent and expands it to other investigative agencies like the police.
“It is a commonsense reform to strengthen our ability to fight crime and corruption in NSW.
“The Opposition should stop playing silly political games and allow the Government to do the job it was elected to do.”