Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I will take this opportunity to make some brief remarks in support of the Customs Legislation Amendment (Augmenting Offshore Powers and Other Measures) Bill 2006, and particularly in support of the comments of the member for Brisbane. This bill modernises the Customs Act, bringing it into line with operational realities. A particular operational reality that the Australian Customs Service faces has been highlighted by an incident which occurred on an Indonesian fishing vessel recently and which was highlighted in the Customs Service’s submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs inquiry into this legislation. In this incident a gun was produced by an Indonesian crew member during a search by Customs officials. It is important of course that this parliament gives every possible support to our Customs officials as they seek to protect our borders.

The Labor Party do support this legislation for the reasons outlined by the honourable member for Brisbane. We will be moving amendments in the other place to make this an even better bill. It is important that a balance is reached on these issues. We believe that the amendments to be moved by us in the other place will reach that balance. We do, nevertheless, support the provisions of this bill. The key amendment contained in this bill is an amendment to strengthen the powers of Customs officers when boarding ships in Australian waters. Other amendments include giving Customs officers a range of new powers to search persons on ships that have been boarded by Customs officers.

Under the current provisions of the Customs Act, Customs officers already have a range of powers to enforce Australian laws, including criminal laws, in Australian waters. The current powers include the power to chase and board ships, the power to request an aircraft to land for boarding, the power to search persons on board ships, the power to require all persons on a ship to answer questions or produce documents, and the power to arrest persons on a ship. But under the current act Customs officials cannot conduct personal searches until a ship or aircraft has been detained. That goes to the point I made before. Where Customs officers have not made a decision to detain a ship but are on board, if they do not have the power to conduct personal searches then we are going to see a continuation of the situation we saw on that Indonesian vessel. If Customs officers do not have the power to conduct personal searches, they cannot ascertain whether weapons are on board and indeed whether individuals are holding weapons.

This bill proposes the introduction of a new power allowing Customs officers to take possession of goods and documents on a ship where they have reasonable grounds to believe that these goods or documents may be evidence of the committing of an offence, even if the ship has not been formally detained. Under the amendments set out in the bill, the power of Customs officers will be extended to allow the officers to retain those goods and documents taken into possession under the new power to take possession of goods and documents.

The Senate committee heard evidence from the Customs department of a good example of the need for the amendments contained in the bill. In one case a critical piece of evidence, a global positioning system device, was found in the possession of a member of the crew only after the ship was detained. That is another example which highlights the need for this bill. Accordingly, Labor support all moves to increase the powers of Customs officials boarding at sea. Customs officers boarding vessels at sea are at the very front line of Australia’s border security. Labor believe they need to be supported in their important efforts. We commend this bill to the House and we commend the amendments that will be moved in the other place.

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