Profile - Hotline, hot property
The Immigration Status Service (ISS) round-the-clock hotline was hot property after it received its 10 000th call during 2006-07.
The hotline was established after the Palmer and Comrie reports to help police officers around Australia determine the status of people suspected of being in the country illegally. And it is proving to be very effective.
The 10 000-call milestone came as departmental compliance officers in South Australia were conducting ISS training workshops with SA police.
Departmental officers said the workshops were a good way of building on the already excellent relationship between immigration officers and police.
Melissa Franklin, a departmental compliance officer said the workshops also involved recruits from the SA police academy. ‘They were highly enthusiastic,’ she said.
Melissa said that once the hotline was explained to them, the police officers were happy to use it rather than calling individual areas of the department as they had in the past.
‘It has streamlined the process so it works far better for both parties,’ Melissa said.
The workshops helped police to learn more about the department’s work and services such as the ISS and covered immigration scenarios that they may encounter.
The workshops also explained immigration compliance officers’ powers and various provisions of the Migration Act with compliance officers on hand to answer questions about the rights and responsibilities police have when dealing with immigration matters.
Immigration officers sometimes need police help during high-risk operations or need to refer matters to them for investigation and the ISS workshops helped develop a good mutual understanding and working relationship between the two organisations.