NSW Attorney-General heeds calls to curb copper theft

International escalation

Recent instances of copper theft in Australia appear to be more opportunistic than those at the height of thefts during 2008, when it was discovered a corrupt CityRail track manager had supervised theft of copper wiring from railways.

Victorian Police had also discovered an organised racket which sought to ship 8.3 tonnes or $1 million worth of stolen copper wiring from Melbourne to black markets overseas.

The spates led Endeavour Energy, then Integral Energy, to invest $11.2 million with NSW Crime Stoppers in order to launch a public education campaign dissuading thefts. Courtney said the ploy worked for a while.

More recently, copper thefts have exploded in Europe with indexed pricing of the metal rising to more than US$10,000 per tonne at the beginning of 2011. BBC reported copper theft from railway and electricity networks contributing to 770 million pounds lost per year in stolen metals.

The damage bill in France rose to 30 million euros in 2011, according to Reuters, causing thousands of hours in train delays across the past year.

The issue has also proved problematic in the United States at a cost of US$1 billion annual and in South Africa with an estimated damage bill of $38 million during 2010.