DIMA Annual Report 2000-01

DIMA - Gateway to the 2000 Sydney Olympic and Paralympic games

The department was Australia's gateway to the Games for thousands of overseas athletes, officials and visitors.

From the outset the department appreciated that its entry services would be the first point of contact with Australia for most international visitors.

So it developed unique arrangements that gave the overwhelming majority of visitors good first impressions of Australia that were confirmed as they moved easily around the country and enjoyed with Australians the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic experience.

Staging the Games was a mammoth task. Teams came to Australia to compete from over 200 countries, and with them came a large contingent of international visitors.

The department's staff around the world and throughout Australia were involved in Games preparations. They focussed on facilitating the smooth entry of visitors, preserving border integrity and contributing to a safe Games.

Our involvement in the Games first began in July 1992, 18 months before Sydney's bid to host the Games was successful. At that time the department was involved in supporting undertakings that the Commonwealth Government would facilitate Olympic and Paralympic Family entry.

When Sydney won the bid to host the Games, the Commonwealth Government immediately took a whole-of-government approach to the task. This involved the department in productive collaborations with many other government agencies.

The department's New South Wales office worked particularly closely with that State's government agencies. The department participated in several Commonwealth and State planning and coordination groups.

Agencies worked together to ensure that arrangements put in place for the Olympics would apply equally to the Paralympics. A range of cooperative initiatives got underway. For example, from 1996 DIMA's Airport Manager was playing a key role in the Sydney Airport Olympics Planning Group and actively working on issues of passenger facilitation, security, equine handling and venue management.

A visitor information campaign was quickly established, including an Internet web site that immediately began attracting thousands of monthly 'hits'.

In addition, the department worked closely with the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC). Two years before the Games got underway, the department seconded its New South Wales Olympic Coordinator to SOCOG to strengthen communication between the two organisations.

Together, the department and SOCOG built the Olympics System, providing an electronic interface between the two agencies. It was the first time an integrated immigration and Olympics system had been established to ensure athletes and officials were checked prior to receiving their Games accreditation.

The department also supported SOCOG's multilingual switchboard for the Olympic Family by providing an after-hours telephone interpreting service, through the Translating and Interpreting Service.

Further afield the department developed strong links with overseas immigration services that had previously hosted the Games. Key staff learned a great deal from their colleagues involved in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

Each of the department's overseas posts personally contacted the local National Olympic Committee two years before the Games got underway. Games-related issues and questions were given a high priority and were quickly resolved.

Posts in places as diverse as Lagos, Abu Dhabi and Moscow were given additional resources focussed on Games facilitation.

In addition to these external collaborations, the department established a specialised Olympics Section in Canberra in 1996 and an Olympics Coordination Unit in New South Wales in 1998. An internal Olympics Executive Planning Committee and an Olympics Planning Working Group were also established in 1998.

These coordinating groups operated at the heart of the department's Games planning and implementation activities.

A key priority for them was the streamlining of the department's entry procedures for the Olympic and Paralympic Family members.

The department set in place systems to ensure that athletes, and other members of the Olympic and Paralympic Family, including media and broadcasters, would be able to travel and enter Australia as smoothly as possible.

The department arranged to pre-clear these visitors in their own country for arrival in Australia using a system of electronic visas. Thus, clearance on arrival generally took seconds.

At the same time, the department sought to establish strict border controls that prevented the entry of anyone who might seek to disrupt the Games or pose a public security threat.

The department needed to be satisfied that the Games were not used as an opportunity for non-bona fide visitors to gain entry. All arms of government clearly wanted a Games where Australians and their international visitors could feel safe. To this end, there was no relaxing of border controls in 2000.

As the opening ceremony drew closer, overseas Airline Liaison Officers worked tirelessly with airports staff and others to minimise unauthorised arrivals.

The department's Business Solutions Group worked to expand the department's IT systems to ensure they were robust enough to cope with Games pressure. The Public Affairs area worked to ensure there was a high standard of public information available through initiatives such as special Olympics briefings for the ethnic media and community groups and contributions to the Olympics Visitor Information Campaign. A Multicultural Theme Day was organised for 13 September 2000. In 2000 almost every area of the department had some involvement in facilitating a successful Games.

The department understood it was essential to get things right. Thus, it had commissioned an internal review of the department's preparations along the way. It pointed to a good state of readiness and made suggestions for further improvements.

Likewise, the Australian National Audit Office and the Joint Standing Committee on Migration undertook two external reviews. These reviews also contributed positively to further improvement in Games preparations.

Being closely involved in Games preparation, the department was confident that Australia would host a highly successful Games. Despite our confidence, as the Games drew nearer contingency plans were in place. Staff remained adaptable, flexible and ready for anything!

The outstanding staging of the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games exceeded even the department's high expectations. In relation to portfolio interests:

• the department undertook thousands of security checks, doubled the number of trained border clearance officers in New South Wales, and maintained a high level of border integrity
  
  
• immigration entry arrangements worked very well and international visitors were complimentary about their quick entry and departure from airports
  
  
• the level of fraud and immigration malpractice was well within expectations
  
  
• the number of former Olympic Family members remaining unlawfully immediately after the Games was low - 83 persons in November 2000. Of those, 59 people applied for protection visas
  
  
• visits continue from staff of overseas immigration services eager to learn more about our processing policies and arrangements. There is general acknowledgment that the department's computerised border control systems are world best practice
  
  
• the Games provided a global platform for displaying Australian multiculturalism.

Staging the Games was a mammoth task. It was rewarding to see the department's long-term commitment to the Games, and careful planning, contribute so successfully to Australia's presentation to the world as a vibrant, multicultural country open for business.

[Previous Page]  [Contents]  [Next Page]