Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian border is a strategic national asset. It is not an asset to be taken for granted by any government. The reason that this bill, the Australian Border Force Bill 2015, is before the House is to establish the role of the Australian Border Force Commissioner, to enable the operation of the Australian Border Force and to introduce provisions to support the management of a professional and disciplined workforce that exercises its powers and functions with the highest standards of integrity. The Australian Border Force will be a single integrated front-line operational border entity within the department and will be charged with enforcing customs and immigration laws, protecting Australia's borders and improving our national security

The coalition has a very strong and historic record of protecting Australia's borders—the 37,000 kilometres of coastline, the eight major international airports, the more than 60 international seaports and the 10 million square kilometres of ocean in our offshore exclusive economic zone. In fact, border protection is one of the core reasons that I am very proud to be a member of the coalition. We are absolutely committed to protecting Australia's borders. The Australian people know that they can have confidence and certainty that, whenever there is a coalition government, border protection will be a priority. Just look at our history—it is one of our core beliefs—and look at the resolve and success of the whole-of-government approach to Operation Sovereign Borders. Compare those efforts, our efforts, to the absolute chaos of the Labor years. It was just a dreadful debacle. Labor made an absolute mockery of the responsibility that a government has of border protection in this country. It was an abrogation of the government's responsibility.

When I was first elected in 2007, I watched with horror as Labor dismantled the Howard government's very strong and successful border policies. They abandoned offshore processing and automatic detention—and didn't the people smugglers just rub their hands together in anticipation of profits; it was a green light—61 days before the first boat arrived under Minister Evans, and the people smugglers made millions out of the 50,000 people who paid them to come to Australia under Labor's open border policy. It was a licence to print money for the people smugglers. We saw 800 boats and thousands of children. What a dreadful risk those children took, often in leaky, unseaworthy boats provided by those same people smugglers, especially when we know that, tragically, at least 1,200 people died at sea.

As, unfortunately, with most key policy areas, Labor created a very serious problem and an unmitigated mess for the coalition government to deal with. But the Australian people expected us to deal with the problem and knew that we had the policies and the genuine resolve to do exactly that. They also know that we have the policies and resolve to deal with what is a case load of problems left by Labor. We have reduced the number of children in detention from 2,000 to closer to 100—and what a turnaround that has been. All of us can be proud of the fact that we have stopped the boats and stopped people drowning at sea. It is a core government responsibility. The government has taken back control of our borders from people smugglers and destroyed their very lucrative business model.

I was really concerned, genuinely concerned, and I think the people smugglers would be again rubbing their hands together, to hear the Deputy Leader of the Opposition confirming that Labor will actually put them back into business whenever there is a Labor government in this country. I wonder what the Defence Force men and women who gave their lives protecting Australia's people and our borders would think of that abrogation of responsibly by a government--outsourcing our borders to people smugglers. I think of people like my mother's husband, who was killed in World War II, in New Guinea. He was one of the oldest Western Australians to enlist, and he was desperately worried about Australia's borders and about people who will do Australia harm, and they can come in all forms. That is why he volunteered for redeployment to New Guinea. I have spoken to many service men and women, particularly throughout the parliamentary program, and I know that they feel very strongly about this issue of border protection.

The Australian Border Force Commissioner, a statutory officer, will have control of the operations of the Australian Border Force and will be directly accountable to the minister in relation to those operations. The Australian Border Force Commissioner will have a dual role as Comptroller-General of Customs, with responsibility for enforcement of customs laws, collection of border related revenue, enforcing customs and immigration laws and protecting Australia's borders—particularly, as I said, from those who seek to do harm to Australians, in whatever form that is.

Immigration and Border Protection workers will make decisions that affect the safety, rights and freedoms of people as well as facilitate legitimate trade, commerce and travel in Australia. They will hold a privileged place at the border and in the community, with access to secure environments and law enforcement databases. They will also exercise significant powers under the Customs Act 1901 and other Commonwealth law, such as detention, arrest, boarding a vessel, entry, search, questioning, seizure, use of force and removal from Australia. The community and government trust Immigration and Border Protection workers to exercise these powers reasonably, lawfully, impartially and professionally. The people who carry out these roles at our air and sea borders, airports and ports are the people who are involved in the detection and investigation of illicit goods and illegal visitors and in compliance and enforcement.

With air cargo consignments expected to increase by 85 per cent to 2016-17, sea cargo consignments expected to increase by 20 per cent and international travellers by 25 per cent, we certainly need an efficient, effective, single border force protection capability. As the ABF document notes, organised crime groups are growing and diversifying their interests as access to illicit markets expands and opportunities to disguise illicit movements increase.

The Australian Crime Commission notes that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime calculates that drug trafficking and organised crime generate the equivalent of US$870 billion. The commission says that illicit drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering have become more complex and that there is an ever-expanding range of new crime markets such as new drugs and precursors, wildlife trafficking and potential vulnerabilities of visa programs. The commission says that, today, law enforcement is focused on working in partnerships both nationally and internationally, with 67 per cent of our nationally significant serious and organised crime targets linked to at least one international jurisdiction, with most focused in South-East Asia.

The ACC also notes the growing sophistication of importation methods for firearms and illicit drugs and the international reach of criminals. The effect of organised crime on Australians is unparalleled; it is pervasive; it is powerful; and it is complex. And that is why this single approach is important. In March I read that the ACC, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the AFP, the New South Wales Crime Commission and the New South Wales Police Force, in a joint operation called Strike Force Nicolena, which was formed to investigate large-scale drug importation and money laundering, arrested two men and seized guns, drugs worth $4 million and $1 million in cash, as well as 10 kilograms of cocaine concealed in machinery imported from overseas.

We can only expect more sophisticated forms of people smuggling and control evasion. But I am particularly pleased to see that the prevention of movement in and out of the country by people of national security concern is a key focus of the government's border security and integrity measures. It requires an equally sophisticated and layered detection of threats—the single-agency approach that we see in this bill—to foster and share intelligence. For instance, last year 313,000 passengers were referred to immigration officers for further investigation; 2,328 of those were refused immigration clearance; and 364 were denied boarding for flights to Australia.

Organised crime has a high degree of determination and resources and uses cyber and IT in its efforts to corrupt, as we know very well. The bill contains a number of integrity provisions to increase resistance to criminal infiltration and corruption and to enhance government and public confidence in Immigration and Border Protection workers, as well as the confidence of other partners, including intelligence organisations and foreign governments, providing an integrated approach, which has been so successful in destroying the people smugglers' business model.

The Border Force Counter-Terrorism Unit will be part of the ABF once this legislation is passed. It is another example of how seriously the coalition government takes national security and border security issues. The Border Force Counter-Terrorism Unit has been working in our airports to detect potential jihadists trying to leave Australia. Eight teams conducting real-time assessments have successfully intercepted a number of people of national security concern.

I encourage all parents to be alert and aware of ISIL's online efforts that are directly targeting our vulnerable young people. When I deliver my cybersafety presentations to parents, I ask them to put their hands up if they know where their children are right at that moment, who they are with and what they are doing at that time. Most parents put their hands up. And then I ask them whether they can answer those same questions when their children are online: where are your children, who are they with and what are they doing? Few, if any, hands go up.

We have recently seen the reports of Australian teenager Jake Bilardi, who reportedly died as a suicide bomber in Iraq. His father said he shouldered much of the blame for his son's actions. One of his comments reported by The Sydney Morning Herald was:

… I would just like everyone to know that the buck stops here with me. He was my son.

Parents need to know what their children are doing online and who they are talking and interacting with. If we need another reason, we know that ISIL is targeting children as young as eight years old to be suicide bombers and 14-year-old girls to be married off to terrorist fighters. These are very good reasons for parents to be aware of what their children are doing, particularly online.

The Border Force Counter-Terrorism Unit employs 80 specialist officers with enhanced powers to intercept inbound and outbound passengers of national security interest. Another measure the government has taken is to cancel more than 100 passports.

This bill also includes provisions that enable the setting of standards for a highly trained, disciplined and flexible workforce, a legislative framework for the ABF, a single front-line operational border control and enforcement entity that will be formed within the department from 1 July 2015. It follows the government decision to integrate the department and the ACBPS into a single department of state. They are the reasons I support this bill.

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