Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I agree with the previous speaker that the hub of this issue lies in maritime ports. I rise to support the Customs Legislation Amendment (Name Change) Bill 2009 on the understanding that the South Australian branch of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service is headquartered in my electorate of Port Adelaide; indeed, my office is located in Customs House in Port Adelaide, so this is an issue quite dear to my heart.

On 4 December last year, the Prime Minister delivered Australia’s first national security statement. In that statement he spoke of the many challenges we face in a changing world and the need to reform our national security structure to adapt to those changes effectively. This bill reflects one of those reforms. It is extraordinary that during their 11½ years in power those opposite never bothered to make a statement on national security. Labor recognises that Australians might wish to be kept abreast of policy on the highest priority of the national government, and the Prime Minister intends this to be the first of regular briefings to the nation on this important area.

Australia’s geographical position means that controlling our maritime border is a complex and challenging task. The smuggling of people by boat has become a hot political issue in Australia, sometimes used to score cheap political points. Unlike our predecessors, we will not show our strength by punishing those people so desperate and vulnerable that they are prepared to take such extreme measures to migrate. Instead we will focus our energies on a multipronged approach that seeks to tackle the problem. The three main aspects of this approach are, firstly, international cooperation, secondly, prevention strategies, and, thirdly, border protection. This bill supports all these measures by reflecting the government’s new unified approach to national security as supported by the Homeland and Border Security Review and outlined in the Prime Minister’s speech.

Australia is a party to the Protocol Against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime. The purpose of the protocol is to promote international cooperation to prevent and combat people-smuggling whilst also protecting the rights of smuggled migrants. The protocol defines the smuggling of migrants as:

… procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident.

People-smuggling is distinguished from people-trafficking predominantly by the concept of coercion, though the reality is that there is often substantial overlap between these two categories. What needs to be emphasised is that both the smuggling and the trafficking of human beings involve the exploitation of vulnerable people and the endangerment of their lives in pursuit of profit. The government will not tolerate these crimes.

Both trafficking and smuggling have strong links to organised crime and generate billions of dollars of profit at the expense of human rights. The abuse involved in the exploitation of trafficked people is abundantly clear, but it would be a mistake to romanticise people smugglers as the modern-day equivalents of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Essentially this is an illegal trade where the welfare of migrants is rarely a consideration. Human cargo as a commodity means people not only are suffering inhumane and dangerous conditions on their journey but can also be the victims of debt bondage, violence and even murder. In September last year at least 26 people died off the coast of Yemen when they were forced overboard at gunpoint after the smugglers’ vessel was stopped offshore. In the first nine months of 2008 more than 25,000 arrived in Yemen aboard smugglers’ boats, with at least 200 deaths and an equal number missing. Closer to home, we saw terrible tragedy in 2001, when more than 350 people died trying to reach Australia while being smuggled on a boat intended to hold only 150 passengers. This was a clear example of the devastating consequences of maximising profit with no regard for life.

It is important to keep our situation in perspective and recognise that people-smuggling is a global phenomenon that continually fluctuates because of driving forces for irregular migration such as war, famine, poverty and natural disasters. Sensible, sustainable measures at a number of levels, not beat-up stories, are needed in response. An important aspect of our efforts to achieve international cooperation on people-smug-gling is through the Bali process. Co-chaired by the governments of Australia and Indonesia, the steering group also includes New Zealand, Thailand, the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration. With over 50 countries and numerous international agencies participating, the Bali pro-cess is an outstanding forum for developing practical measures to combat and prevent people-smuggling and people-trafficking, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region in particular. This issue affects all nations whether as countries of source, transit or arrival or a com-bination of all three. This government is committed to furthering international co-operation, particularly with our neighbours such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, to coordinate efforts to prevent and deter people-smuggling in our region. The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship held talks with his Indonesian counterpart on this issue last week and will attend the Bali Process Ministerial Meeting next month.

Prevention strategies must also focus on helping to remove the underlying causes of smuggling and trafficking. Poverty, displacement, corruption and inequality are just some of the reasons why people are drawn into dangerous and illegal migration arrangements or become prey for modern-day slavery, whether that be in the cocoa fields or the sex trade. This government is committed to progressing the Millennium Development Goals and believes Australia should be a powerful contributor to achieving these. We run a strong development assistance program, and Australia has joined the International Health Partnership to help build sustainable health systems in developing countries and accelerate progress on meeting the health goals. The government has also announced increases in the ratio of Australia’s aid to gross national income. The assistance we provide through our AusAID program helps prevent those violations of human rights, particularly on an economic and social level, that are direct causes of both human-smuggling and people-trafficking.

In February this year, the government announced it will provide $12.8 million for overseas assistance projects to alleviate displaced persons’ vulnerability to people-smuggling. Supporting the work of organisations like the UNHCR, Care Australia and the International Organisation for Migration will help those displaced by war and persecution receive the assistance, protection and support they need, thereby reducing demand for irregular migration.

The Australian government’s Displaced Persons Program for 2009 will focus on displaced Afghans, Iraqis, Burmese and Sri Lankans. Depending on the situation, this can mean facilitating a safe return to their homeland, reintegration assistance, improving asylum seeker processing or the provision of humanitarian aid. Millions of people have been displaced from these four nationalities alone, and unless the international community works to improve their situation then the demand for irregular migration must inevitably follow.

Strong border protection is vital to our national security. This entails extensive patrolling, coordinated intelligence analysis and an effective response to breaches of our law. Those that exploit the vulnerable by selling illegal passage to Australia will be caught and they will be punished. Less than a fortnight ago, an Indonesian skipper convicted of people-smuggling received a jail term of six years. This bill reflects the new key role of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service on maritime smuggling issues. The nature of this issue means that numerous agencies are involved in tackling it, and this can weaken our response by a lack of coordination and accountability. The new Australian Customs and Border Protection Service will direct and analyse intelligence, coordinate surveillance and response and liaise with other countries to ensure that effective measures are taken to deter people-smuggling. The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service will streamline our approach to this scourge on our seas by providing a central pivot for unified control and direction.

The change of name from the Australian Customs Service to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service is not a mere cosmetic exercise. It is a reflection of this body’s important role in our nation’s security and of this country playing its part to reduce transnational organised crime. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context