Last week, the federal government released its annual report on police activities covered under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act -- which allows them to apply for a warrant to intercept telecommunications activities in connection with serious criminal offences such as murder, drug trafficking or people smuggling.
The report revealed that the number of convictions achieved through telecommunications interception warrants rose to 1,824 in the 2003/2004 financial year. This figure represents an increase of 49 percent over the previous period and almost doubles the total for the 2001/2002 duration. However, the actual number of warrants issued dropped slightly.
Although the count for convictions achieved through intercepting telecommunications rose sharply, Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said criminals were getting smarter. "They are increasingly making use of multiple numbers and mobile telephones as well as pre-paid services in an attempt to thwart investigations," he said.
Ruddock added the figures indicated that law enforcement agencies were using intercepts effectively and responsibly -- represented by a conviction rate of 68 percent.
In addition, there were 3,059 applications for such warrants, of which only 31 were refused (or the application was withdrawn). The bulk of the applications were made by the New South Wales Crime Commission (827) and the Australian Federal Police (671) -- two organisations which focus heavily on drug offences.
Amendments to the Act, which recently included certain classes of terrorism-related offences, has resulted in five prosecutions, the report said.
Ruddock claimed that in general, the primary aim of the legislation was to protect the privacy of individuals using the nation's telecommunications systems.
