WA's confiscation laws
are not broken by accident.
In 2019, retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Hon Wayne Martin AC KC told the Government the Criminal Property Confiscation Act was so flawed it should be repealed. Seven years later, it still stands.
Since May 2019
$0
in court-sanctioned confiscations - after the Government received the Martin Review
Items & properties seized
947
listed in the official confiscation spreadsheet
Crime-used basis only
$333,973
confiscated solely because the property was used in a crime
“the Act is so flawed in so many regards, some of which are fundamental, that the preferable course is to repeal it”
The Martin Review did not call for a tidy-up. It called for full repeal and replacement. The Government received it in May 2019. Nothing has happened.
What Martin said must change
Six key recommendations from the 2019 review - all ignored.
A lawyer in the room
A person compelled to attend a WA Police interview should have the right to legal representation present.
Judicial discretion
Courts should be able to decline a confiscation order where justice does not require it.
Trafficker means trafficker
Drug Trafficker Declarations should be reserved for people who have actually trafficked drugs.
Connected property only
The state should only confiscate property with a substantial connection to the offence.
Appeal rights for innocent people
Partners, children and other innocent dependants should have a right to challenge confiscation orders.
Scrap the current law, and start over
Justice Martin found the present law to be so flawed that it ideally needs to be rescinded, and rewritten from scratch.
The money trail
What the state has taken since 2019
Cash dominates the total, but the Act reaches far beyond cash. Vehicles, bank accounts, land and other property are all in scope.
Office spreadsheet citing Hon Matthew Swinbourne MLC, Hansard, 14 June 2022.
A justice system should not have a revenue target.
WA Police and the DPP can receive additional payments when confiscation proceeds exceed budget expectations. That turns a coercive state power into a funding stream.
No lawyer guaranteed
People compelled to answer questions can be denied the basic protection of legal representation.
Judges can be boxed in
In key cases, the court may have no practical discretion once the DPP asks for confiscation.
Innocent families exposed
Partners, children, and dependants can bear the cost of orders they had no real ability to challenge.
Property beyond the offence
The Act can reach property not substantially connected to the wrongdoing.
Crime-used confiscations
Even the narrowest category shows how far the Act reaches.
The spreadsheet separately identifies property confiscated solely on a crime-used basis. The total is smaller - but the categories still include cash, vehicles, accounts, land, and other property.
Total - crime-used basis
$333,972.95
Cash
2 items
$4,245.00
Vehicles
6 items
$127,050.00
Accounts
3 items
$142,702.08
Land
1 item
$56,018.07
Other
1 item
$8,202.80
Parliamentary petition
Dr Craig Buchanan JP helped negotiate the Martin Review.
Now he's asking Parliament to act on it.
If this law can take a house, a car, or a family's savings from someone who never had a fair path to challenge it, it can happen to the next innocent West Australian too.