The responsibility for policing domestic crime is traditionally the domain of State and Territory police services. The role of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) is to provide intelligence and investigative support in relation to certain crime-types that are considered ‘nationally significant’, such as serious or organised crime. In 2007, the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (Cth) was amended to enable the ACC’s special powers of coercive examination to be used to investigate Indigenous violence and child abuse. This action raised these issues to the level of national significance and can be viewed as part of the increasingly dominant position adopted by the federal government and its law enforcement agencies in this arena. The justifications provided for extending the role of the ACC in this context require careful examination to determine the appropriateness (and potential discriminatory impact) of federal involvement in crimes that have traditionally been within the ambit of State and Territory law enforcement.