Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I continue in support of the Migration Amendment (Border Integrity) Bill 2006, specifically on the subject of the first amendment to this bill—that is, the declaration to remove the special purpose visa. As I said last night, special purpose visas allow for specified persons or members of specified classes to be taken to hold a temporary visa. When there is a question about the visa holder’s suitability, the current legislation says that Department of Immigration and Citizenship officers can usually cease that person’s special purpose visa and commence processes to locate the person. Presently, however, if the person is located on the day that their special purpose visa is ceased, the officer cannot detain the person until midnight of that day.

This has left DIAC officers with no choice other than to encourage the relevant crew person to go back to a vessel. This is undesirable from a border integrity viewpoint and hardly a logical system. Therefore, this amendment will provide that a declaration takes effect at a time specified in the declaration. The specified time will not be a time before the declaration is made. The legal effect will be that the special purpose visa will cease at the time specified in the declaration. If no time is specified, it will take effect at the end of the day on which it is signed.

As I have previously stated, the Australian Government Solicitor has advised that the common law principles of natural justice should be applied in relation to declarations made to cease a special purpose visa. How this is achieved—that is, the type of hearing and the response time—will of course depend on the circumstances of each case.

With regard to the second amendment of this bill, relating to the introduction of an automated border processing system, I had begun to speak about SmartGate. The SmartGate system allows passengers to process themselves electronically. The detail contained within the chip—that is, the electronic chip embedded in the passport—will reveal all the information required for entry into Australia. SmartGate uses facial recognition biometric technology to perform a ‘face to passport’ check to verify a person’s identity.

The number of international arrivals and departures at Australian international airports is forecast to increase by up to 23 per cent by 2009. Extensive trials of the SmartGate system have been carried out in Sydney and Melbourne airports. This proposed amendment will allow for SmartGate to be used for all Australian citizens and selected noncitizens with eligible e-passports. Eligible e-passports for Australian citizens contain an embedded microchip which stores a digitised photograph, name, gender, date of birth, nationality, passport number and the passport expiry date. Noncitizens must hold a passport which the minister or the secretary has determined as eligible. These eligible passports will contain embedded information stored on a microchip which will be accessed by the automated system. SmartGate will temporarily store this data while it is used to process the relevant passenger, and then destroy this information shortly thereafter. It should be noted that the system will not collect—that is, permanently store—any personal identifiers from these passports, so no-one need fear privacy violations.

As well as verifying identity, SmartGate will also send the passport details of the person undergoing clearance to customs and immigration systems where the passport and visa details will be verified in the same way as they would be if the person were processed manually by a clearance officer. SmartGate will also collect certain information which is currently required to be provided to an officer during immigration clearance. This information relates to health and character checking, and is currently collected via the incoming passenger card. Everyone, including users of SmartGate, coming into Australia will still be required to complete incoming passenger cards.

The amendments do not introduce any new processing requirements; they are designed to make the process more efficient whilst retaining the security of our borders. These changes simply enable eligible passport holders to choose to be processed in immigration clearance by an automated system instead of a clearance officer. If there is any indication that the person should not be cleared, or a special category visa not granted, SmartGate will refer the person to a clearance officer for manual processing. The process will not prevent officers from seeking further information from clients if required.

This measure will also enable selected New Zealand citizens to be cleared via SmartGate and to have their special category visa granted automatically. We all know what it is like to stand at an airport and wait while individuals are processed manually by Customs officers who, in many destinations around the world, seem to have anything on their mind other than processing passengers in an efficient and timely manner. The whole process being introduced in Australia will make life easier for visa holders coming into this country. That is a process that I wholeheartedly applaud.

In conclusion, let me say that there can be no true Australian nor true representative of the Australian people who can oppose doing all we can to keep this country safe. I commend the bill to the House.

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