Page 4312 - Week 10 - Thursday, 22 September 2011
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applicant has in the past five years lived outside Australia. However, this is only one factor that is considered by the commissioner in the course of making his or her decision, and the decision is reviewable by the ACAT.
If the applicant is unable to provide identification information the commissioner may consider other information or documentation to establish the applicant’s probity, thereby ensuring that any discrimination is avoided. These information-gathering powers are necessary to allow the commissioner to examine an applicant’s suitability to hold a licence, similarly to the ability of the commissioner to check the criminal history of all other applicants.
In deciding whether it is in the public interest to issue a licence to an applicant, the bill also empowers the commissioner to consider any other offence committed by the applicant that the commissioner believes on reasonable grounds affects the person’s suitability to hold a licence.
The final reform included in this bill is the power for the commissioner to cancel or immediately suspend a licence. This power goes to the very core of maintaining the probity of the workforce by enabling the commissioner to respond promptly to any adverse event relating to a licensee’s integrity.
The basis on which the commissioner can do this is directly linked to the suitability criteria set out in the Security Industry Act 2003 and in these amendments. Cancellation powers only relate to offences that automatically preclude a person from holding a licence and only apply to current licensees if the conviction or finding of guilt occurred after the commencement of the amendments.
The suspension power only applies if the commissioner is taking or intends to take occupational discipline proceedings against a licensee and the commissioner believes on reasonable grounds that the licence should be suspended immediately in the interests of public safety. Both of these new decisions to cancel or suspend are reviewable decisions which can be appealed to ACAT, maintaining judicial protection for licensees.
It is not only the public that will benefit from these reforms. There are also benefits for the industry. These reforms will provide a uniform and consistent national approach to the security industry. Feedback from the industry is that this will assist the industry to address inherent risks associated with varying licensing regimes across jurisdictions and disparate training and skill requirements.
A uniform national approach will enable the industry to minimise compliance costs and enable efficiencies that come from working across a number of regulatory schemes. It will also facilitate the mobilisation of resources across jurisdictions to cope with larger events—an important benefit for the ACT given the size of the territory and our proximity to New South Wales.
Another benefit of nationally harmonised industry regulation is to support the goal of preventing organised crime. Standards implemented cross-jurisdictionally reduce the ability of people with links to organised crime to participate in the private security
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