Crimes and Other Legislation (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026 (Cth)

29 April 2026

On 20 April 2026, the Law Council made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the Crimes and Other Legislation (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026 (Cth) (the Bill). The Law Council’s submission focused on three matters regarding the Bill. 

First, we welcomed a series of amendments to the account takeover, data disruption and network activity powers, proposing to implement aspects of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor’s 2025 review into these laws. The Law Council had previously made a submission to this review and supported the repeal of access to intrusive powers for agencies found to no longer require such powers. We did, however, raise concerns about the extension of sunset provisions in the absence of recommended reforms to their issuing procedures.

Second, the submission raised concerns about a proposed evidentiary certificate framework for continuity of evidence handling in proceedings for serious drug offences. We have argued that this proposal should not proceed without appropriate limitations on the availability of such certificates and improvements to procedures for requesting cross-examination of persons mentioned in such certificates. 

Third, we raised concerns about proposed changes to methods for calculating the quantity of proscribed drugs and precursors in mixtures for the purposes of serious drugs offences. We have argued that the existing approach—which requires ascertaining the quantity of a drug in its pure form—has advantages over a proposal in the Bill that would define the weight of any substance found to contain a prohibited drug as the quantity of the drug in question.

The Committee is due to report on the Bill on 1 May 2026.

Last Updated on 28/04/2026

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