Organized crime costs Australia up to A$15 billion (US$15.8 billion) each year, according to a report released yesterday that warned opportunities for illegal activity were unprecedented.
Australian Minister for Justice Brendan O’Connor said key areas of concern included money laundering, identity crime and the production of amphetamines, but also extended to online scams, corruption, fraud and people smuggling.
“If there is an opportunity to make money, organized criminals will try to exploit it,” he said, launching the report that conservatively estimated costs at between A$10 billion and A$15 billion annually.
O’Connor said the Australian Crime Commission report, drawn from a classified study prepared for the government last year, was the most comprehensive profile of organized crime in the country to date.
“Revealing these details for the first time is about being open with the Australian people and sharing what we’ve learned about organized crime operations in Australia,” he said.
The report describes the opportunities for organized crime as “unprecedented,” owing to -globalization, greater movement of people, goods and money across borders and rapidly developing technologies.
Criminals were increasingly using logistics planning and aggressive marketing, as well as investing in research and development and risk mitigation strategies, it said.
“Organised crime groups are entrepreneurial and unrestrained by legislation, borders, morality or technology,” the Organised Crime in Australia report said, adding that networks were also engaged in tax evasion, counterfeit goods trade and environmental crime. “They are adaptable, innovative and fluid — infiltrating a wide range of industries and markets, well beyond areas generally considered vulnerable.”
The report said most organized crime in Australia centered on illicit drugs, but it was not the only illegal activity resulting in harm to the community.
“Organised criminal activity is increasingly diverse and is evolving rapidly,” it said.
The report said significant losses to the economy included the redirection of resources that might otherwise be invested in legitimate business, losses in tax revenue and increasing costs of law enforcement and regulation.
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