Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I present the report on the integrity of Australia's border arrangements, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee and I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

The Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity has today tabled the report from our longstanding inquiry into the integrity of Australia's border arrangements. This inquiry investigated how well government agencies which work to secure our border are able to protect themselves from infiltration and corruption by transnational, serious and organised crime elements who seek to subvert Australia's borders. The committee has found that overall our law enforcement agencies are clear eyed about the risk environment and have adopted appropriately robust mechanisms to seek out infiltration and corruption when it happens. The committee also found that the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, ACLEI, has performed its functions well in investigating potential breaches of border agencies' integrity. Importantly, ACLEI has improved its processes to upskill law enforcement agencies in both corruption detection and prevention strategies to stop corruption and infiltration before either has a chance to take effect. However, a key challenge remains to ensure that law enforcement agencies work together in a more-coordinated fashion to tackle integrity risk factors. Every chain is only as strong as the weakest link.

The committee found that improvements could be made in developing an overarching strategy to target the types of serious crime and corruption experienced in the unique environment of Australia's border agencies. The committee noted that successive Australian governments have taken significant action to improve border related functions to ensure those processes maintain their integrity and continue to protect Australians. These changes have included strengthening the approvals regime for maritime and airport security cards, but there is more to do. The committee has recommended the Australian government consider further streamlining the number of identity-card-approving authorities and creating a central register. The committee's key recommendation is that Australian government law enforcement agencies develop, in consultation with ACLEI, a coordinated serious crime and corruption strategy with a particular focus on corruption at Australia's borders. A further recommendation is that Home Affairs and the department of water and the environment develop better consistency across their integrity and anticorruption frameworks, including developing site-specific approaches.

As part of this inquiry a delegation of the committee travelled to New Zealand and Vanuatu to understand the integrity frameworks of those near-neighbour countries and how individual initiatives or aspects of those frameworks might be relevant for Australia. I didn't have the benefit of going on that visit, but I've seen the photos. I was quite envious of those committee members who had the opportunity for that experience. The committee would like to again extend the thanks of the committee to the governments of New Zealand and Vanuatu for their openness to our discussions and for the strength of our ongoing partnerships to tackle transnational, serious and organised crime in the Pacific region.

I would like on behalf of the committee to thank secretariat staff who were involved in producing this report: Mr Sean Turner, the former secretary of the committee; Ms Kate Gauthier, principal research officer; Ms Alice Clapham, administrative officer; and Ms Stephanie Gill, administrative officer. I would like to conclude by thanking all the committee members involved in the production of this report, including our deputy chair, Senator Bilyk, who's provided wonderful support to me on the committee in my capacity as chair. I know Senator Bilyk gets embarrassed when I thank her in this place for that assistance, but I do enjoy working with Senator Bilyk. I note Senator Bilyk has some additional comments but certainly does agree, as I understand, with the recommendations of the committee.