By Stephen Johnson, AAP
April 15, 2011, 12:02 am
Multi-billion dollar industry
Organised crime costs Australia $15 billion a year, mainly due to the popularity of illegal party drugs.
Organised crime costs the economy $15 billion a year because Australians are among the world's biggest users of illegal party drugs, a report says.
Underworld activity could fund a $1000 Christmas cheque for every adult, or annually pay for a brand new hospital in each Australian capital city.
The Australian Crime Commission estimates serious crime "conservatively" costs $10 billion to $15 billion a year, making it a national security issue.
Its Organised Crime in Australia report, being released on Friday, is regarded as the most comprehensive study to date into underworld activity.
Illicit drugs are the most profitable form of organised crime, with cocaine, ecstasy and ice, or crystal meth, among the most commonly traded chemicals.
Australia's illegal party drug market is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise with a large number of syndicates.
"Australians are among the world's highest per capita consumers of illicit stimulants, and drug prices in Australia far exceed prices overseas, making domestic drug production and importation highly profitable," the report says.
Cocaine traffickers with links to South American crime groups are expected to maintain a competitive advantage in Australia.
"Mexican criminals have become more prevalent as principals in the importation and supply of cocaine and associated money laundering," the report says.
"There is concern that they may also import the violent practices which have been reported overseas."
Crystal meth is produced locally by Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs, along with Middle Eastern, eastern European, west African and Southeast Asian criminal groups.
Cannabis, Australia's most used illicit drug, is distributed through more decentralised groups while ecstasy is often imported from Europe, Southeast Asia and Canada in powder form by more sophisticated networks.
The role of ethnic crime is also examined, concluding that certain groups are more prone to use violence.
"The deliberate use of violence is a key feature of Middle Eastern organised crime groups," it says.
"Persons, particularly of Lebanese background, have significantly escalated the level of violence within and between outlaw motorcycle gangs since they have become members over the past decade."
Regardless of ethnicity, outlaw motorcycle gangs are prepared to use violence to protect their membership and areas of influence, the report says.
Still, it regards the fatal bikie brawl at Sydney airport in 2009 as a one-off, concluding that violence among organised crime groups had actually reverted to historically lower levels.
Tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, identity crime and high-tech crime are also high on the list of crimes, with internet-based crime tipped to increase in the short to medium term.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, who will launch the report on Friday at Melbourne's Federation Square, said this report was the commission's most comprehensive profile of organised crime in Australia to date.
"Revealing these details for the first time is about being open with the Australian people and sharing what we've learned about organised crime operations in Australia," he said.
Australian Crime Commission chief executive John Lawler said if there was a how-to manual for waging war against organised crime, this report would comprise the first chapter.
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