Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is great to have this opportunity to speak on the Australian Border Force Bill 2015. And I do endorse this bill, as I endorse every piece of the coalition government's policy and legislation, particularly with regard to matters to do with national security. Whether it is our fair and effective immigration policy, metadata or—my personal favourite, because it is a bit of a proposal of mine—the revocation of citizenship for dual nationals who participate in terrorist causes, these are all policies and legislation that are ultimately and totally worth supporting, as is, in this case, the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill 2015, which will repeal the Customs Administration Act 1985 and amend a number of other Commonwealth acts, including the Customs Act 1901.

Although I was in the Australian Federal Police for two years before I joined the Army, I did not have much to do with Australian Customs. I do recall that one of the people I went to school with, a guy called Tim Morris, joined Customs not long after I joined the Federal Police, but he later moved on to the Australian Federal Police. I consider Tim Morris one of the stars of our class, now Assistant Commissioner with the Australian Federal Police. He has certainly been doing great work in providing reality checks on the conspiracy theorists who suspect the worst regarding metadata.

But I digress, because even when I was in the AFP I had great confidence in Customs. I used to go to see the Customs officers working at Sydney airport when we would move through their areas, and they seemed to be completely on top of it. In fact, I remember one day a number of us were talking about how Customs had intercepted someone trying to smuggle drugs in the heels of his boots, walking through Customs. I was thinking, how do you possibly work out that the guy had drugs concealed in the heels? I believe it was heroin or cocaine. And it was just because one of the Customs officers had detected that the heels were not right on those boots. So, we are talking about people with great skills and great experience. I guess from that point on I always thought Customs were so very good at their job and completely on top of their game. Whether it was there at that front line of the border or whether it was in what we used to call parcels post, whereby people tried to post drugs into the country, the Customs people were very sharp operators, and it is easy to have great confidence in what they did and what they do.

What has become clearer in the years since I left the AFP is that the circumstances surrounding our borders have become even more complex and more challenging, and of course it will continue to evolve. When I was in the AFP working at Sydney and Perth airports, the threats were less sophisticated and the means to detect the threats were, unfortunately, also less sophisticated. Now it is a real battle, and we need to make sure that in a broad figurative sense our 'border soldiers' are armed with the latest equipment and are ready to fight. It is important to fully understand that the border is complex. It is where the flow of people and the movement of goods are controlled. It is not just a line on a map but, rather, exists offshore and onshore, because it includes overseas, the maritime border and also the domestic dimensions of the border. Clearly it is not a line where there is a stop sign but where those responsible must regulate access and egress and facilitate and enforce the law.

The coalition is committed to building a safe and secure Australia, and this bill is a vital part of maintaining this commitment to the Australian people. By combining the experience of staff who interact with people and goods, the Australian Border Force will be in a better position to deal with threats to Australia's borders. The integration of Immigration and Customs functions is also an essential part of improving efficiency. The Australian Border Force is required to control who comes and goes and also what comes and goes. Through this process, the safety and security of Australia and our people is protected.

We must also remember that, practically, there is a significant effort in the maritime area to identify and act on illegal arrivals and to conduct surveillance in our exclusive economic zone for illegal fishing and other maritime threats. To demonstrate the increasing demand for effective border protection, interestingly in the 2012-13 financial year air cargo constituted 28 million tons, and in 2016-17 an 85 per cent increase is expected, and it will rise to 52 million tons. In the case of sea cargo, the increase is 20 per cent—therefore, 2.7 million tons up to 3.4 million tons. Over the same period, the number of international travellers is expected to increase by 25 per cent, going from 34 million up to 43 million a year.

This bill therefore is the delivery of the May 2014 announcement that we intended to consolidate the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection service into a single department, with the Australian Border Force established within the department. This bill will effectively bring all existing Customs and Immigration functions of an operational nature together whilst leaving policy, regulation and corporate matters to the department. As part of the Australian Border Force there will be a commissioner who will have a dual role as the Comptroller-General of Customs. To meet the challenges of the environment, the ABF will have a number of workforce management process provisions provided, including a professional integrity framework, information secrecy and disclosure, and of course means to deal with serious misconduct.

As a former member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, I am pleased that the commission will have jurisdiction over the whole department on a whole-of-agency basis. There are parts of this bill that include significant administrative detail. I will not go into those just to fill up time, but I would say that this bill will enable this nation to have a better response to the issues of protecting our borders. Not only will we have a better capability, thanks to having the Australian Border Force, but also this sort of significant reform will be more efficient. As has been said, over the forward estimates around $180 million will be achieved in savings measures, and it is likely to achieve $100 million a year after that. These changes should be seen in the context of the challenges now and into the future. Trade and passenger numbers will increase sharply. The supply chains will get more complex, and the ABF, through these changes, will have the flexibility and the capability to respond to the needs of this nation and to the threat wherever it materializes on our borders.

When I talk of the complex challenges, we can of course expect that organised crime across the borders, around the region and around the world will be looking for chinks in our armour and will take advantage of any weaknesses. The Australian Border Force will be up to the task and will work in concert with other agencies, both here and overseas, to meet and defeat the threats. I know that some people may have trouble with some aspects of this bill, such as the ability to delay resignations for up to 90 days where an officer is being investigated for serious misconduct, but this is nothing new and does already exist in other agencies.

I do also wish to be very specific about the lines of demarcation that will result. Firstly, the Australian Border Force will be responsible for border control and also investigations, compliance and enforcement. Border control includes strategic border command-land; strategic border command-maritime; and immigration border functions, such as the frontline of airports and ports, remote areas and uniformed officers.

With regard to investigation, compliance and enforcement, or ICE, this includes conducting ICE across a scope that includes customs, immigration, onshore detention, removals, offshore processing, operations, and community programs.

The Australian Border Force Bill 2015 acknowledges the unique and developing challenges of law enforcement and immigration and the challenges of the border, and I very much endorse the bill.

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