Output 1.3 Border security

Overview

This output has two components:

1.3.1 Borders

1.3.2 Identity

The border security output seeks to:

• prevent and deter unauthorised entry to Australia by working closely with foreign governments, international organisations, airlines and other agencies, and through the use of technology and intelligence
• enhance the department’s ability to detect and minimise document fraud
• protect the integrity of the border by working closely with other border agencies to maintain and improve effective screening processes, streamline entry of approved travellers and return of refused entrants, and keeping accurate records of people movements
• support law enforcement and security agencies in preventing entry of people who are a direct or indirect threat to Australia’s national security
• enhance the department’s ability to detect identity fraud and minimise its occurrence
• provide improved and consolidated identity information on all clients to decision makers
• contribute to border security through the development of biometric technology and tools
• contribute to whole-of-government initiatives on identity fraud and organised crime.

Highlights

Maritime Crew visas

The Maritime Crew (subclass 988) visa (MCV) became mandatory for ships’ crews on 1 January 2008, following a six month transitional period. The visa was implemented to ensure that application and security checking requirements for foreign sea crew aligned with the requirements for other temporary visitors to Australia.

In 2007–08, over 350 000 MCVs were granted. Since 1 January, industry compliance with the new requirement has been extremely high with 99.8 per cent compliance among arriving crews. The industry peak body, Shipping Australia, has indicated its high degree of satisfaction with the MCV’s implementation.

National security and counter-terrorism

The department works closely with Australian security and law enforcement agencies to strengthen border security and to prevent the entry of non-citizens who may pose a threat to Australia’s national security.

All non-citizens applying to enter or remain in Australia are assessed against the requirements of the Migration Act 1958 and migration regulations. All visa applicants undergo security checks during the processing of their visa applications.

As Australia’s border management system is multilayered, checking occurs not only during visa processing, but also at pre-boarding under Advance Passenger Processing and on entry at the Australian border.

A major new initiative during the year was the phased introduction of the Security Referral Service (SRS) system which, when fully implemented in 2008–09, will enable new levels of electronic connectivity with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. The new SRS system provides for greater efficiencies in the processing of visa applicants and a strengthening in security checking arrangements.

The department is actively involved in whole-of-government counter-terrorism efforts, working with other departments to exchange information on both our domestic and international counter-terrorism efforts. The department also exchanges information with other countries on programs and policies to promote social harmony and prevent radicalisation and extremism.

Counter-terrorism preparedness and response

The department participates in a number of inter-agency fora, including the Australian Government Counter-Terrorism Policy Committee and the Australian Government Counter-Terrorism Committee.

The department is actively involved in the planning and conduct of counter-terrorism exercises with other government departments and agencies. In 2007–08, one of these exercises was ‘Cyberstorm 2’ which was designed to test security preparations in the event of an attack on Australia’s public electronic infrastructure. Such exercises help the department prepare to respond to a terrorist incident, particularly through management of the border.

Preventing people smuggling activity

Organised people smuggling is a crime which preys on the misfortunes of others and places the lives of people at risk, particularly when they attempt to gain entry to Australia by undertaking sea voyages in small boats. The department works actively with other agencies to combat this activity, and provides advice to government on the activities of people smugglers planning or attempting to smuggle people to Australia by air or by sea.

A dedicated unit assesses all-source intelligence on people smuggling, and distributes reports within the department and to other government agencies in a position to respond to the irregular movement of people to Australia. Recipients of the reports include the department’s overseas networks, Australia’s overseas missions, law enforcement agencies and Border Protection Command which patrols air and sea approaches to Australia.

Many Asia-Pacific countries are also active in countering the activities of organised people smugglers and the movement of potential illegal immigrants into Australia.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

The department continued to pursue Australia’s interests in supporting trade and investment activity by facilitating the movement of business people in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Activities included:

• chairing and providing secretariat and project management support to the APEC Business Mobility Group
• representing Australia in APEC sub-forum meetings
• managing the APEC Business Travel Card scheme on behalf of participating APEC economies.

The major APEC project led by the department relates to building the capacity of participating economies in border management and the application of biometrics, as well as work to expand the membership and functionality of the Regional Movement Alert System (RMAS).

RMAS is an APEC counter-terrorism initiative that enhances regional border security for air travel through the close cooperation and collaboration of APEC economies. It currently operates between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America. The department is also working with a number of other APEC economies to encourage their participation and enhance the effectiveness of RMAS as a regional border security measure.

RMAS enables participating economies to verify the status of passports in near real-time at the source, and alert the relevant agencies if action is required.

It provides automated checking of passport data at the time of airline check-in against a database maintained by the passport issuing authority. This removes the need for participating economies to pool their passport information in a centralised database.

In addition to checking for lost, stolen and invalid passports, RMAS will soon be able to determine whether a passport is recognised by its issuing authority as having been validly issued. This capacity makes RMAS a powerful tool for detecting lost, stolen and counterfeit passports and removing them from circulation. Accurate and up-to-date passport data is also a valuable tool for governments in combating terrorism, illegal migration and trans-national crime.

The APEC Business Travel Card is a scheme hosted by the department to streamline business visitor entry into participating APEC economies. Currently, 18 of the 21 APEC economies participate as full members. The USA participates as a transitional member and Canada is moving towards greater participation in the scheme. As at 30 June 2008, there were 43 710 card holders across APEC with Australian business people holding 16 019 cards.

The card offers two main benefits for business people. It assists them through the airport quickly using a priority immigration processing lane, often the lane used by air crew and diplomats. Secondly, it gives business people visa pre-clearances, which are valid for three years and permit multiple entries for either two or three months, depending on the economy. Card holders lodge one application with their home government and, once approved, may travel to other participating APEC economies without having to apply separately for visas.

SmartGate

The department continues to work closely with Customs on initiatives to automate border processing. The department sought changes to the Migration Act to allow for travellers using eligible ePassports to be processed by SmartGate—an automated process for verifying visas and identities. These changes were implemented in April 2007.

SmartGate uses face recognition technology to perform a ‘face to passport’ check to verify the ePassport holder’s identity. The automated gate takes a photograph of the passport holder which is matched against the biometric face image captured on to the chip of the ePassport.

The aim of the SmartGate initiative is to allow the processing of increasing traveller numbers at international airports within the same physical space.

The use of SmartGate is voluntary for Australian ePassport holders and eligible non-citizen ePassport holders. It is currently available to Australian and New Zealand ePassport holders arriving in Brisbane and Cairns.

The initiative also allows New Zealand citizens who hold an ePassport to apply for, and be granted (where they satisfy the relevant criteria), a Special Category visa, as well as being immigration cleared, using SmartGate.

Advance Passenger Processing system

Australia’s border management system is based on a number of ‘layers’, including:

• a universal visa system (with immigration alert checking)
• Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system, which operates at check-in overseas
• Airline Liaison Officers
• processing at Australian airports and seaports on arrival.

The APP system is used to pre-check passengers before they travel to Australia. It helps prevent inadequately documented passengers bound for Australia from boarding planes and vessels overseas, and increases the efficiency of incoming passenger processing in Australia for both airlines and the cruise shipping industry.

There are currently 48 airlines flying into Australia that must satisfy mandatory APP requirements for both the passengers and crew. APP checking occurred in about 99.8 per cent of all passenger and air crew arrivals in 2007–08, an increase from 99.5 per cent in 2006–07 and 99 per cent in 2005–06.

To encourage the highest possible level of APP reporting compliance, the government has implemented an infringement notice system, with the relevant legislation being introduced to parliament in June 2008. Since April 2006, the department has been providing feedback to airlines for each instance where APP checking was not completed. This feedback provides airlines with an opportunity to improve their processes and reduce infringements in the future.

Since 2004, international cruise ships have used the APP system to check more than 174 000 passengers and 98 000 crew. This represents over 99 per cent of cruise ship arrivals with only minor administrative errors affecting 100 per cent compliance. During 2007–08, more than 55 900 passengers and 31 000 crew were APP reported by cruise ships.

Airline Liaison Officers

Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) play a key role in protecting Australia’s borders by preventing and deterring irregular movement of people in the region. They conduct document screening of many Australia-bound passengers at key international gateways. They provide advice to airlines and host governments on passenger documentation issues, and by their visible presence, deter those involved in people smuggling. They also assist airline check-in staff with training and advice about Australia’s entry requirements and provide a ‘problem solving’ link between airlines and the department’s Entry Operations Centre.

Border Operations Centre, Movement Alert List and Central Movement Alert List

The Movement Alert List (MAL) is the department’s principal electronic alert system and forms an integral part of Australia’s national security and border control strategy.

A review of MAL in 2003–04 recommended the centralisation of all alert checking in the department to a purpose-fitted centre located in Australia. While largely aimed at strengthening border security, the Central Movement Alert List (CMAL), once fully deployed, will also improve client service by reducing the requirement for multiple MAL checks to be undertaken and minimising the need for post-visa grant intervention due to MAL issues.

In November 2007, the new CMAL system was rolled out within the department’s Border Operations Centre. This was followed in April 2008 by the extension of the CMAL check to the department’s Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) system, through which the majority of short stay business and tourist visas to Australia are issued.

By extending CMAL to the ETA system, the department now processes up to60 per cent of all visa applications through the CMAL checking process at the application stage.

The introduction of CMAL to the ETA system which improves the integrity of the ETA application process has dramatically reduced the requirement for ETA applicants to be referred to immigration posts overseas for further processing.

Successful piloting of the CMAL system has also been undertaken within the department’s visa processing system used at overseas posts, in preparation for a complete roll-out to these posts in mid-2008 with implementation in the onshore processing system before the end of 2008.

Identity management

Several key deliverables were achieved under the department’s identity management strategy in 2007–08. These included:

• deployment of two biometric projects, relating to people in immigration detention and the citizenship test
• release of a suite of identity-related procedural advice manuals, supported by training for decision makers
• increased number of facial images and documents stored in the Identity Services Repository, with a significant number of new users granted access.

The department is working with other government agencies to progress the Biometrics at the Border initiative and the Document Verification Service (DVS). The year saw the commencement of transactions under the DVS, about 7000 requests were made through the DVS and the associated manual helpdesk to verify the identity of citizenship applicants.

The department also participated in a number of key projects and data sharing trials under the Four Country Conference working groups. The Global Document Examination Network continued to train departmental staff and counterparts in the region in document examination techniques and managed both the training of new forensic document examiners and the development of key tools and systems to support document examination.

The department has effective foundations in place and is well positioned to extend its biometric and identity management capability during 2008–09.