Coalition makes ‘law-and-order’ pitch, with plan to invest proceeds of drug crime into communities

As it seeks to gain some momentum for its campaign, the Coalition on Monday will focus on law and order, announcing $355 million for a National Drug Enforcement and Organised Crime Strike Team to fight the illicit drug trade.

A Dutton government would put Australian Federal Police teams into the states and territories, which would be nationally led and supported by specialist financial investigative and prosecutorial teams.

This would bring an anticipated “significant increase in the seizure of criminal assets and proceeds of crime, which we will reinvest into communities,” Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and shadow ministers said in a statement.

“This means every dollar seized from drug dealers and criminal cartels will go towards helping the families and communities devastated by their crimes.”

In what it dubs a crackdown on crime from “the border to the backyard” the opposition has brought together its various initiatives in a $750 million “Operation Safer Communities” package.

Apart from the taskforce, and piloting a national child sex offenders disclosure scheme that would provide more information to parents about the risks in their communities, other measures have been previously announced.

The initiatives include:

• new laws to disrupt organised criminal syndicates

• upgrading border screening to intercept drugs and cracking down on the importation of date-rape drugs used in drink spiking

• extra funding for Crime Stoppers

• more money for the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation

• investment in e-safety education through the Alannah and Madeline Foundation

• introducing national “post and boast” laws making it illegal to post social media material glamorising involvement in crime

• working with other jurisdictions to standardise knife crime laws, and funding a national rollout of detector wands

• restoring the Safer Communities Fund to support local projects to improve social cohesion

• reintroducing fast track processes for visa appeals to deal with bad actors overstaying.

The Coalition is also promising stronger action against antisemitism and against corruption and crime in the construction industry.

Dutton said the community felt less safe than three years ago.

“I have the experience and determination to stand up to the outlaw motor cycle gangs and organised crime syndicates which are wreaking havoc on our streets and in our communities.”

Opposition defence spending announcement this week

The Coalition this week will release its long-awaited defence policy.

The Australian Financial Review is reporting it will be based on two stages. The first would be a target above Labor’s proposed spending over the forward estimates. A second stage would be a target of spending at least 2.5% of gross domestic product annually in the early 2030s.

Greens say public service should prepare a brief on their policies too

The major parties are always saying they don’t want to get ahead of themselves – being seen to assume the outcome before the election is decided. The Greens have no such inhibition.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has written to the Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department, Glyn Davis, declaring minority government looks probable.

“It is increasingly clear that whoever forms government will likely rely on crossbench support, and in turn need to be in a position to discuss in detail the policy proposals put forward by members of the crossbench,” he said in his letter, sent on Thursday.

So Bandt wants the public service to prepare a brief on Greens’ policies, to assist any such negotiations.

The context is that the bureaucracy prepares so-called “red” (Labor) and “blue” (Coalition) books, which contain briefs on the policies of each side. The appropriate book is ready for whoever wins.

Bandt wants a “green book” prepared. “This will enable an incoming government to discuss and begin to implement key policy priorities of the Australian Greens, should they agree to them during negotiations in relation to the formation of government.”

Bandt said as a “top priority” in this exercise, the public service should prepare in-depth work on reforming negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. This should cover reducing these concessions for investors owning more than one property, which the Greens support.

Bandt referred the bureaucracy to work done by the Australia Institute, a progressive think tank, and to the views of various economic commentators who have advocated reform.

He also pointed to Treasury advice on the subject, over which debate flared last week, when Anthony Albanese claimed the government had not asked for modelling. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he had asked for a “view ” from Treasury. The government says it has no plans to change negative gearing arrangements.

Albanese has repeatedly ruled out negotiating with the Greens if he was forced into minority government. But he wouldn’t need to – the Greens have said they would not have a bar of giving support to a Dutton minority government.

How important the Greens were when it came to particular pieces of legislation in a hung parliament would depend on the actual numbers. including how many crossbenchers a minority government needed to pass bills and how big the crossbench was. The bigger the crossbench, potentially the more choice of dancing partners for the government.

The importance of the lower house Greens if there was a minority government would also depend on how many of them there were. Bandt is safe in his seat of Melbourne, but the other three Greens, all from Queensland, won their seats in 2022 and these electorates are being strongly targeted by the major parties.