The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 5HSRUW Extradition - a review of Australia’s law and policy Joint Standing Committee on Treaties August 2001 © Commonwealth of Australia 2001 ISBN &RQWHQWV Foreword..............................................................................................................................................vii Membership of the Committee..............................................................................................................ix Terms of reference ..............................................................................................................................xii Abbreviations and glossary................................................................................................................. xiii Recommendations...............................................................................................................................xv 1 Introduction...........................................................................................................1 The purpose of this report......................................................................................................... 1 The origins of this inquiry ......................................................................................................... 2 The conduct of our inquiry........................................................................................................ 3 The scope of this report ............................................................................................................ 3 2 Extradition: how it works.....................................................................................5 What is extradition? ................................................................................................................... 5 How Australia’s extradition scheme works ............................................................................. 7 Extradition from Australia ............................................................................................................. 7 Extradition to Australia.................................................................................................................. 8 Development of extradition law and policy ............................................................................. 8 General......................................................................................................................................... 8 Development of Australia’s extradition scheme ......................................................................... 11 Who decides on extradition........................................................................................................ 13 Exceptions to extradition ............................................................................................................ 14 Extradition in practice.............................................................................................................. 15 Australia’s main extradition partners .......................................................................................... 15 iv Refusal of extradition requests................................................................................................... 18 Types of offences ....................................................................................................................... 19 Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 21 3 The appropriate standard of evidence..............................................................21 Support for the move to “no evidence” ................................................................................. 22 Arguments in favour of the “no evidence” model ....................................................................... 22 Developments in the United Kingdom........................................................................................ 24 Criticism of the prima facie test .................................................................................................. 26 Criticism of the “no evidence” model .................................................................................... 28 Possible alternatives to the “no evidence” model................................................................ 32 Reinstitution of the prima facie case .......................................................................................... 33 Support for the existing test........................................................................................................ 33 Adding a right to cross-examine witnesses................................................................................ 34 More relaxed rules of evidence ..................................................................................................36 The Canadian model: ‘record of the case’.................................................................................. 36 A similar option under the London Scheme ............................................................................... 37 The US model: probable cause.................................................................................................. 38 The Committee’s comments ................................................................................................... 41 Our preferred approach.............................................................................................................. 42 The practical implications of requiring more proof ..................................................................... 43 Should Australian nationals be treated any differently?...................................................... 47 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 51 4 Other issues........................................................................................................53 Who should decide? ................................................................................................................ 53 Inability to present exculpatory evidence.............................................................................. 57 Establishing an extradition objection.......................................................................................... 59 Defences and excuses, including alibi evidence........................................................................ 60 The presumption against bail ................................................................................................. 61 Type of offence......................................................................................................................... 66 Who should pay?...................................................................................................................... 68 Determining an ‘extraditable person’..................................................................................... 69 Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 70 v Appendix A - Submissions and exhibits .................................................................73 List of submissions ..................................................................................................................... 73 List of exhibits............................................................................................................................. 74 Appendix B - Witnesses at public hearings ............................................................75 Tuesday 13 February 2001 - Sydney......................................................................................... 75 Monday 26 February 2001 - Canberra....................................................................................... 75 Wednesday 14 March 2001 - Melbourne ................................................................................... 76 Monday 26 March 2001 - Canberra ........................................................................................... 76 Appendix C - Australia’s Model Treaty ....................................................................77 Appendix D - Australia’s extradition relations........................................................89 Bibliography.............................................................................................................103 List of figures Figure 2.1 Process of extradition from Australia under the Extradition Act 1988 ................. 11 Figure 2.2 Extradition from Australia by requesting country 1980-81 to 1999-2000............. 17 Figure 2.3 Extradition to Australia 1980-81 to 1999-2000 .................................................... 18 Figure 2.4 Extradition requests granted 1980-81 to 1999-2000 ........................................... 19 Figure 2.5 Extraditions from Australia by type of offence 1990-91 to 1999-2000................. 21 List of tables Table 2.1 Refusal of extradition by Australia July 1991 to April 2001 ................................. 20 vi )RUHZRUG Crime is increasingly becoming an international concern, as the barriers to trade and the mass movement of people have diminished and as communication technologies have become more sophisticated. Money laundering, drug trafficking and people smuggling have become issues of major