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The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) Corporate Plan 2024–28 is now available and aims to guide and connect our strategic themes, as well as annual business and operational planning across our national prosecution practice through to 2028.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) Raelene Sharp KC confirmed that on 1 June 2024, Warren Day will join the CDPP on secondment for 6 months, as the Director’s Executive Officer. 

On 5 March 2024, CDPP staff acknowledged the 40 year anniversary of the Office being established.

The CDPP’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2024-26 is now available.

The CDPP has launched a range of branded cultural elements which were designed by

Federal Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, today announced the appointment of Ms Raelene Sharp KC as the next Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
The CDPP 2022-23 Annual Report was tabled in Parliament on 18 October 2023.

The CDPP’s Corporate Plan 2023–27 is now available.

The 2021-22 CDPP Annual Report was tabled in Parliament on Friday 28 October 20

Serious Drugs

Intercepting illicit drugs and precursors at the border prevents them from entering the Australian community. We prosecute a significant number of cases relating to serious drug offences, often involving the importation of drugs and precursors.

Importation

Serious drug offences, particularly importations, are rarely committed by one person. In most cases they involve a number of players who are involved at different levels and in different ways. As a result, we often have to rely on extension of criminal liability provisions involving conspiracy, joint commission or accessorial liability in order to prosecute all those involved in an importation.

Precursors

When it comes to precursors, substances used to manufacture drugs and essential for producing illicit drugs, we see a huge variety in the methods people use. These range from smaller quantities being imported through the mail, often several kilograms at a time, to highly sophisticated importations of hundreds of kilograms or several tonnes via shipping containers.

Serious drug offences

Commonwealth serious drug offences apply to a long list of illicit substances including:

  • Heroin
  • Cocaine
  • Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL)
  • Ecstasy (MDMA)
  • Methamphetamine, and
  • precursor chemicals such as Pseudoephedrine.

Drug and precursor offences are among the most serious Commonwealth offences and attract substantial penalties under Part 9.1 of the Criminal Code, including imprisonment for life for offences involving the importation of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

There are a range of other serious drug offences in the Criminal Code, including:

  • trafficking
  • commercial manufacture of controlled drugs, and
  • pre-trafficking in controlled precursors.

There are also provisions in the Criminal Code that extend the schedules of controlled and border controlled drugs to include substances that are analogues to those drugs listed. Drug analogues are substances that have a similar chemical structure to a drug that is listed.

There are also provisions that extend the definition of controlled and border controlled precursors to include substances that are salts, esters, and immediate precursors of the precursors listed.

We also prosecute State and Territory drug offences, usually where the investigation involves a Commonwealth agency and it is appropriate for us to conduct the prosecution.

Main offences

Serious drug prosecutions can be divided into four main categories:

Additional offences

Additional offences relating to the importation of non-narcotic drugs, specified chemical compounds and specified performance enhancing substances also exist under the Customs Act, though the penalties are significantly less than those prosecuted under the Criminal Code.

Penalties

The level of penalty associated with serious drug offences generally depends on the quantity of the illicit substance involved. There are three tiers of quantities used in the Criminal Code:

  • commercial quantity (the largest, usually measured in kilograms)
  • marketable quantity (in grams), and
  • trafficable quantity (in grams, but less than a marketable amount).

The penalties range from 2 years’ imprisonment for basic possession offences, through to life imprisonment for trafficking or importing/exporting commercial quantities of a border controlled drug.

Key legislation

Partner agencies

Practice Group Instructions (PGI)

PGI IIE/OCCT No. 1 –