Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to give my support to the Australian Border Force Bill 2015 and the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill 2015. These bills, as we have heard from people on this side, are an important step forward in the coalition's plan to protect Australia's borders. This is particularly important to my electorate of Solomon, as we bore the brunt of boat arrivals due to the previous Labor government's failed border protection policies. During the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era, the boats flowed in as Labor opened the flood gates to the people smugglers.

As the number of boats surged to over 800, carrying over 50,000 people, Territorians were forced to deal with Labor's complete and utter loss of control of our borders. As Labor's failure spiralled further, my electorate and its surrounding areas ended up with five immigration detention centres; putting a strain on my community's support services. As I have said in this place many times, the former Labor government was more interested in delivering detention beds than they were in delivering hospital beds. The ambulance services in my electorate were strained. The hospitals in my electorate were strained. Police services were strained. The fire services were strained. The tourism industry was definitely strained. They were all strained from a bad Labor policy which took advantage of Territorians' goodwill. Territorians have always welcomed people from a diversity of backgrounds. We have one of the most multicultural communities in Australia and we love it.

As I said before, things were so out of control that in my electorate the Department of Immigration rented a whole CBD hotel, converting it into a temporary immigration detention centre. Our Navy patrol fleet in the Top End was stretched to the brink, having to escort a constant stream of Indonesian fishing boats and their human cargo to Christmas Island.

With the changing of government, we have stopped the boats and are now in the fifth consecutive month of no successful boat arrivals. This is what good policy looks like; not the flood-gate approach that was assembled by those opposite. And still, their response to this problem was to strip $700 million from our border protection agencies, at a time when this money was needed most, after causing an $11.6 million blow-out in border protection costs.

Operation Sovereign Borders has meant that people are no longer dying at sea, unlike under Labor, who allowed at least 1,200 people. This stopping of boat arrivals through Operation Sovereign Borders has also meant savings for taxpayers through detention centres closing down. The people smugglers are now going out of business. And that is something I am really pleased about. Now it is time for the coalition to move forward and to look to the future.

With a projected growth over the period of 2013-14 to 2017-18, air cargo consignments are estimated to rise by 80 per cent, sea cargo by 20 per cent and international travel by 25 per cent. On top of this, cargo supply chains and international travel routes are set to become more complex over time. Not only is travel and trade growing at an exponential rate but we are tackling an ever-increasing threat to Australian communities posed by serious and organised crime.

While our border protection agencies are doing an exceptional job, the current operations will not be sustainable for protecting our borders beyond 2020. Clearly, something has to be done and the coalition's next step in ensuring safer waters and safer borders is the Australian Border Force, an establishment under the already consolidated border protection services which aims to give a sustainable future to border security as the growth of the management of our borders increases. This streamlined approach being put forward by the coalition ensures the future of border protection and continues to deliver on the promise we made to the people of Australia before the 2013 election. The changes made through the establishment of the Australian Border Force will ensure the correct balance between maintaining the integrity of Australia's borders and fostering legitimate trade and travel movements to and from the country.

Further, these changes will bring efficiencies and cost advantages through the coordination of investments in securing Australia's borders, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. It is expected that, over the forward estimates, the Australian Border Force will generate $100 million in savings. These savings will be able to be reinvested in helping to create an intelligence led, mobile, technology enabled force—the Australian Border Force —operating under the Strategic Border Command. This will help to facilitate trade and tourism while, at the same time, keeping importers, exporters, tourists and Australians safe from those who would do us harm.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service have already been amalgamated into a single consolidated Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Under this department we will establish the Australian Border Force. The drawing together of the two existing agencies' functions will give the Australian Border Force the ability to undertake border operations, conduct investigations, and ensure compliance and enforcement in relation to illicit goods and illegal visitors while also managing detention facilities and removal activities. This consolidation will ensure stronger borders, increase national security and provide a much needed boost to Australia's economy.

The Australian Border Force will be the front line of our border security and most visible to the Australian public and international travellers. This task force will be unified and multidisciplinary and most visible at airports, seaports and remote regional and international locations. It will provide and perform deterrence, compliance and enforcement—and will conduct investigations—across the areas of customs and immigration, detention, removal of goods and people entering and leaving Australia illegally, offshore processing, return-to-community programs and status resolution. All of this is with the aim of protecting and securing our borders.

The Australian Border Force will also be responsible for the tactical functions of all customs and immigration border operations and control. This border control function within the task force will include a Strategic Border Command, looking after operations on land, and a National Border Targeting Centre, looking after maritime operations. There will be a front-line immigration border function, remote area patrols and a national uniformed enforcement response effort.

The Australian Border Force will work with a range of Commonwealth, state, territory and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies in order to perform these critical functions. These will include such agencies as the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Federal Police. A portfolio secretary will have overall management responsibility for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection's operations and missions. A commissioner, who will report directly to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on national border operations, will command the Australian Border Force and will be appointed by the Governor-General. The appointed Australian Border Force Commissioner will have the responsibility to enforce customs law and collection of border related revenue. The commissioner and the APS employees in the Australian Border Force will be able to exercise powers under the Customs Act 1901, the Migration Act 1958, the Maritime Powers Act 2013 and other Commonwealth laws. An Australian Border Force College will also be developed to provide foundational and specialised training for those within the Australian Border Force organisation, as well as for external agencies. The policy, legislative and strategic roles of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will establish a framework within which the Australian Border Force will operate, with corporate functions to be integrated.

These bills ensure the highest standards of integrity and professionalism through the introduction of new employment, integrity and information protection requirements for employees within the Australian Border Force. Through a professional integrity framework that has already been established in the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Australian Border Force will be required to successfully complete an organisational suitability assessment and to report serious misconduct and corruption. These measures will ensure that the employees of the Australian Border Force work within the law, recognising that these are jobs that require the utmost integrity and professionalism. Moreover, these bills provide safeguards to ensure a safe working environment. Employees may be required to undergo breath or blood tests for alcohol, or urine or blood tests for prohibited drugs. The emphasis here will be on employees who are in high-risk areas. The aim is to strengthen integrity within the organisation and to ensure a safe working environment. These testing measures are in line with current policy and practice within the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the Australian Defence Force.

Under the provisions of these bills, serious misconduct will not be tolerated. Where serious misconduct is suspected, the secretary of the department or the Australian Border Force Commissioner will be able to defer the date of resignation of an employee by up to 90 days—to give the department the time required to investigate any suspected breach under the APS code of conduct. If the employee is proven to be in breach, such as in the case of corruption or a serious abuse of power, a termination of employment sanction will be imposed. This type of termination under the Public Service Act 1999 would result in the ability for the secretary or the Australian Border Force Commissioner to make a serious misconduct declaration, excluding any unfair dismissal review of termination of employment under the Fair Work Act 2009. Part of these bills also establishes information protection that prohibits any unauthorised disclosure of protected information. Any breach of this will be punishable by up to two years of imprisonment.

This Australian Border Force will provide a multidisciplinary service and a single entry point for traders and travellers, with changes to be implemented in a phased approach to allow for detailed planning and transition, not a rushed and botched job like that of the previous Labor government. These bills will help continue the good work and policies that the coalition government has been achieving and implementing. We have a plan and we made a promise to the Australian people to fix Labor's chaotic mess that it left behind after dismantling the very successful Howard government's border protection policies. We are sticking to that plan and we will continue to provide Australia with safer waters and safer borders. I would like to put on record my thanks to the current Minister for Border Protection and Immigration, Minister Peter Dutton, and to the former minister, Scott Morrison, for their very good work in this area. I commend the bills to the House.

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