Crime bosses to have dodgy wealth stripped

Criminal bosses would be stripped of their unexplained wealth and assets under laws proposed by the federal government, to now be debated in the Senate.

The legislation passed the lower house on Tuesday and gives law enforcement agencies the ability to confiscate the assets of criminals where they can't demonstrate the wealth has been lawfully obtained.

NSW and the Northern Territory have signed up for the national approach, and Liberal MP Andrew Wallace said all states and territories should support the bill.

Mr Wallace said the best way to fight crime was to remove incentives and warned of the role casinos play in money laundering.

Drug raids in Melbourne confiscated more than $1.2 million worth of casino chips in 2014, he added.

With crime costing the nation upwards of $36 billion a year, Labor backed the bill.

Opposition frontbencher Clare O'Neil was confident it would help target those at the top of the crime chain.

"Some people who profit the most are not directly committing crimes themselves," she said.

The powers of the bill would apply regardless of which state or territory the criminal behaviour occurred in.