Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Customs Amendment Bill 2014 makes a number of amendments to the Customs Act aimed at increasing Australian Border Security and Customs powers. While these changes are rather technical and minor, it would be wrong to assume this bill is somehow insignificant or less important than others.

Currently, the Customs Act does not contain the provisions that customs agents require to fully carry out their duties. This is not the fault of any party or person but rather a technical oversight that we now must fix. Through due diligence, this government has identified where the legislative holes are and has dedicated itself to ameliorative action.

One technical issue that this bill will resolve relates to the crossover between domestic and international flights and voyages. Currently, customs agents do not have the powers to search the baggage of domestic travellers on international flights. Nor can they examine domestic cargo on international flights. This is problematic as passengers often travel domestically on a leg of an international flight. These passengers are mixed with international travellers; their baggage goes in the same storage. This is further problematic as Customs officials lack the powers to search and examine baggage on flights or voyages that arrive in places other than proclaimed ports and airports.

All of these loopholes provide opportunities for those who want to avoid Customs officials to exchange goods with other travellers. This creates numerous problems for authorities, each serious in their own way. Airports and docks are supposed to be sterile environments in every sense of the word. Anything that can be done to ensure the high standards of quarantine in this country must be done.

First and foremost, we must ensure that all items coming and going are essentially clean and free of any pests or diseases that may be dangerous to our ecosystem. We all know of the importance of biosecurity. Our diverse ecosystem, our stunning landscapes and our bountiful agriculture all depend on biosecurity. Stopping potentially harmful material from entering the country is the backbone of preserving these things.

This bill serves to improve our defences in two ways. First of all, with these measures, customs agents will be able to carry out their duties at places where ships and aircraft often arrive in Australia that would otherwise not be proclaimed ports or airports. Ships and aircraft land in areas that fall outside the current regulations for numerous reasons. Cruise ships, for example, can often land in non-proclaimed areas. Both vessels and aircraft can land in non-proclaimed areas due to weather as well. Numerous other exceptions also apply.

This bill also relates to security of the general kind. For every time I mention biosecurity, my point would still ring true if I discussed security generally instead. It is our ability to regulate what comes in and out of our country that grants us the protective shield against prohibited items such as firearms and narcotics.

We all know of the dangers our country now faces given our escalated security climate. The savage advance of the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East underlines the seriousness of it all. We know that this terror risk has already come to our shores. We know dozens if not hundreds of Australians have joined jihadist groups overseas. We know they have fought, killed and died. Some have even returned to Australia, bringing back their terrorist know-how and bloodlust to our streets.

These amendments will be able to give our Customs agents the power they need to better control the entry points for goods. Currently, the opportunity exists for those intending to smuggle prohibited items, firearms perhaps, into Australia.

It is well known that this government is committed to restoring the country's finances and getting the budget back on track. This involves both cutting costs and raising revenue. The Australian government went to the previous election with the solemn promise that the necessary decisions would be made in order to get the country back in the black. After six years of Labor, the task is unsurprisingly large, but by no means insurmountable.

What this bill does more than anything else is send a very clear and strong message to the Australian public, and those intending to try their luck, that this government is serious about law and order. The government has, over the last 15 months, consistently brought forward legislation to significantly strengthen the hand of Customs officials. Our commitment to defending the homeland, and thwarting those who seek to do us ill or undermine our rule of law, is resolute. This resolution has not only been confined to financial support, though we have increased the allocations in this regard. Innovation and vision are also a feature of what this government is doing in the customs space.

Take for example the announced Border Force. This will represent a new departure for both the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and Customs. This is logical. It is a holistic approach that seeks to utilise to best effect every bit of acquired expertise and experience available to the Commonwealth. The days of agencies not being in sync is coming to an end. The right hand will know what left hand is doing. This measure, due to come into effect on 1 July 2015, is timely and benchmarks against international best practice.

Crime and criminality, like any industry, are evolving and becoming ever more complex and sophisticated. We need a government of ideas, commitment and vision. I am pleased to report to this House that in the Abbott government, and in Minister Morrison in particular, we have such leadership.

It is disappointing but not surprising that even on an issue of national importance such as the reform and strengthening of border protection agencies, the Labor Party cannot take a 'Team Australia' approach. Labor run scare stories and feed fantasies to the media about tensions, factions, and leadership tilts inside the cabinet. As if describing their own sorry story of government, they make up any old thing—just destructive and negative. The Australian people are sick and tired of that same old relentless negativity.

The people and drug smugglers know fact from fiction, and it is as simple as this: the coalition is tough on crime and even tougher on the criminals. There are no bleeding hearts here. Our side cares about the results and doing whatever it takes to keep our streets clean from the scourge of drugs and keep our country safe.

Though the particular bill under discussion is not a revolutionary piece of legislation, it is important. Important in the specific but also in the general. In the specific, tightening up and closing down loopholes is critical to keep ahead of the crims. In the general, it adds to a growing mountain of bills that this government have brought forward to strengthen the hand of our law enforcement officers. It clearly shows our commitment to keep our promise to the Australian people to stop the boats and secure our borders.

It really boils down to a question of who did we make legislation for: the criminals or the law abiding citizens? Too often Labor, and particularly the Greens, will loll between lambasting the government and putting out a dirge, all for the benefit of the innocent criminal. Let me tell them that there is no such thing as an ordinary, decent criminal. There is always a victim. The popular notion that some crimes and drugs are harmless is one of the most insidious and damaging fallacies circulating in our community. It must be put to bed for good. Illegal drugs are illegal for a reason, and our reasons are the health and wellbeing of the Australian public. Similarly, when this bill expands the eligible search zone and area for Customs officials at ports and airports, there really should be no restrictions on search zones at airports and ports.

So I applaud the minister for not only talking tough, but also matching his words with actions. This bill is testimony to that. The problem we face is that a terrorist could be anyone, and that terrorist need only be lucky once. We need to be lucky every time.

There cannot be anyone of sane and sound mind in this place who could argue against putting our domestic passenger and freight arrangements on the same footing as our international ones. Likewise, this bill extends common sense to the area of where ships dock. If a ship docks outside a designated port or major shipping point it will be open to the same level of checking. There are practical measures that address lacunas in the current legislation. It is not insignificant, as the volume of passenger and commercial ferries increases daily. Their cargo of people and products should be eligible to be checked if docked at a non-major shipping port. This bill makes the case. The cruise ship industry regularly seeks permission to visit non-proclaimed areas on the Australian coastline. Industries involved in offshore resource activities do not utilise traditional port facilities, and often seek permission to bring vessels direct to an offshore installation. The master of a ship or pilot of an aircraft—

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