Strains on legal system as people-smuggler cases set to double

THE collapse of offshore processing threatens to strain law enforcement agencies to breaking point.

THE collapse of offshore processing threatens to strain law enforcement agencies to breaking point, with Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Chris Craigie warning that his office is bracing for a doubling in the number of cases it is expected to try.

As immigration authorities last week hedged against the anticipated increase in boat arrivals by emptying detention centres and issuing bridging visas to boatpeople, law enforcement agencies are expected to come under heavy pressure to manage any new influx of boats, and the people-smugglers they bring with them.

Mr Craigie told The Australian his office was expecting a twofold increase in its "trial load" during the next two to three years, as it moved to prosecute the backlog of accused people-smugglers already in custody.

"I can confirm that the people-smuggling practice of the CDPP has grown apace," Mr Craigie said yesterday.

"The numbers amount to a virtual doubling of the jury trial practice over the next two years and possibly three."

Mr Craigie's calculations are based on a backlog of smuggling cases already in the system and pre-date the collapse of offshore processing.

Mr Craigie declined to speculate on what impact the failure of the Gillard government's Malaysia Solution might have on the workload of his staff.

But with senior ministers openly predicting an increase in boat arrivals because of the collapse of offshore processing, the number of smugglers hauled before the courts is likely to rise sharply.

Since last month's failure by the main parties to agree on laws that would restore offshore processing, almost 1000 boatpeople have arrived on Australia's shores.

This month alone, 701 asylum-seekers have arrived by boat, easily surpassing the forecast of 600 a month issued by Immigration Department boss Andrew Metcalfe before the collapse of offshore processing.

Mr Craigie's estimate refers to the number of cases the CDPP expects to try before a jury. At present, that figure stands at about 100 a year, meaning the CDPP is anticipating trying about 200 jury matters a year.

Australian Federal Police Association chief executive Jim Torr said police were also "feeling the pressure" caused by people-smuggling investigations.

"They accept that government to a degree can set priorities but every investigator working on this is not working on an illicit drug importation," Mr Torr said.

AFP officers speak of a difficult process that requires them to take statements from the accused via the use of translators, as well as from the navy or Customs crew who intercept the boats, many of whom can be difficult to find if they have since been rotated back out to sea.

In the last financial year, the AFP brought people-smuggling charges against 330 people. In all but one case, those charged were Indonesian crew who face mandatory, non-parole jail sentences of three years.

Border protection authorities speak of a similar strain. Navy and Customs vessels from Border Protection Command are already working flat-out on border protection operations mainly designed to intercept illegal boat arrivals.

Based in Cairns and Darwin, up to 12 of the navy's 14 Armidale-class patrol boats carry out constant searches for asylum-seekers and illegal fishers. Two other Armidales keep watch over the oil and gas production facilities of the North West Shelf.

The vessels are working at what the navy says is a "high operational tempo". ADF units involved in constant asylum-seeker patrols include the RAAF's P-3 Orion patrol aircraft, which are also in great demand for searches over Afghanistan, where they use their sophisticated electronic equipment to identify ambush sites and roadside bombs set for coalition troops.

With the government expected to deliver a cost-cutting "mini budget" as early as today, agencies are hoping there will be extra funding to deal with the additional boats.

Mr Craigie said that as things stood his office was expected to deal with the spike from within its existing budget.

As a result of the budgetary pressures prosecutors "face an enormous challenge in what the public fairly expect of us", he said.

In an internal email to CDPP staff leaked to The Australian in May, Mr Craigie warned the cuts would result in a reduction of the number of prosecutions being undertaken by the office and could even see matters already before the courts dropped.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland was currently considering the recommendations of a report reviewing the CDPP's funding arrangements, a spokesman said last night.

With Brendan Nicholson