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The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) estimates $58.9bn was lost to criminal activity and $23.4bn was spent on combating and preventing crime. Illicit drug activity had the highest hit on the economy, costing Australia $19bn, the report estimated. Australians also consumed about $8bn worth of methamphetamine and $2bn worth of cocaine during the 2023-24 financial year. The report found financial crime cost $13.2bn and offenders were involved in tax and revenue crimes, including offshore tax evasion, misusing trusts to conceal income and creating new companies to continue business activities of companies that have been liquidated to avoid paying debts. Consequential criminal activity, including acts of violence, robberies, burglaries, theft, arson and fraud, cost $10.9bn. Illegal commodities cost Australia $8.6bn, about half of which was lost to the illicit tobacco trade. The figure was a significant increase on last year and excluded vapes and e-cigarettes. Cybercrime cost about $4.5bn, crime enablers 1.5bn and crimes against people involving human trafficking and child sexual abuse $1.1bn. The AIC attributed the 20 per cent increase in the overall cost to improved data but cautioned the figure was “a conservative underestimate of the true losses to the Australian economy.” An AIC spokesman said in the report that serious and organised crime often involved multiple offenders engaging in calculated, sophisticated and financially motivated offending and a series of criminal acts committed over time. “This report reveals the substantial and pervasive impacts that serious and organised crime has on the Australian economy, including the enduring harms associated with illicit drug use, organised financial crime and cybercrime,” the report stated. “The billions of dollars spent by the public and private sectors alone in preventing and responding to serious and organised crime are funds that cannot be directed towards health care, education, infrastructure and other community resources.”
