The
National Crime Authority (NCA) was an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n law enforcement agency established in 1984.
In 2003 it was superseded by the
Australian Crime CommissionThe Australian Crime Commission is an Australian Government national criminal intelligence and investigation agency. It was formulated under the Australian Crime Commission Act which came into effect on 1 January 2003, establishing the ACC as a national statutory authority to combat serious and...
(ACC).
The NCA was set up in the wake of the
Costigan CommissionThe Costigan Commission was a controversial Australian royal commission....
into tax evasion and organised crime. It was intended to lead a national law enforcement response to organised crime which could overcome the jurisdictional barriers of the Australian
federalA federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
system.
The NCA was frequently criticised for both misuse of power and lack of effectiveness. Businessman and former
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
President
John ElliottJohn Dorman Elliott is a former president of the Liberal Party, and former president of Carlton Football Club. In 2003 he was found guilty of trading while insolvent and in 2005 declared bankrupt...
accused the NCA of running a vendetta against him inspired by the then
LaborThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government.
The NCA was replaced by the ACC in 2003 with the stated aim of streamlining the legislative and governmental framework.
The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) is a
CommonwealthCommonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
statutory body working nationally with other federal, state and territory agencies to counter serious and organised crime.
The aim of the ACC is to bring together all arms of intelligence gathering and law enforcement together to fight serious and organised criminal activity.
The ACC has both
intelligenceIntelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
and investigative functions and capabilities.
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