Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I thank members for their contributions—in particular, the member for Hughes, as the last speaker on this legislation—in the second reading debate on the Australian Border Force Bill 2015 and the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill 2015. These bills deliver on the government's commitment to ensure the protection of the Australian community, to enhance the integrity of Australia's border and to create efficiencies through the reform and integration of the department and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.

The purpose of the Australian Border Force Bill is to establish the role of the Australian Border Force Commissioner; thereby enabling the operation of the Australian Border Force as a front-line operational border control and law enforcement entity within the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The ABF Commissioner will have a dual role as the Comptroller-General of Customs and, in that capacity, will have responsibility for the enforcement of customs laws and the collection of border related revenue.

This is an historic occasion in the life of the departments—both Immigration and Customs and Border Protection—and I wish to put of the record my thanks to Mike Pezzullo, the secretary of the department, the former CEO of Customs and Border Protection, and also the current CEO of Customs and Border Protection, Roman Quaedvlieg.

The Australian Border Force Bill introduces provisions to support the management of a professional, disciplined and flexible workforce that exercises its powers and functions with the highest standards of integrity. This is crucial to underpin the government's and the community's confidence in our immigration, customs and border protection arrangements. The Australian Border Force Bill also enables the department to take strong action to deal with any workers who engage in serious misconduct that could undermine the good reputation of the department. Serious misconduct within the organisation has the potential to threaten the security of our borders and adversely impact the department's broader ability to carry out its law enforcement responsibilities.

The purpose of the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill is to make necessary legislative changes to accompany the passage of the Australian Border Force Bill through the parliament. The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill updates a number of Commonwealth acts to reflect the new Australian Border Force organisational arrangements. It includes provisions to abolish the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service as a statutory agency by repealing the Customs Administration Act 1985. It also amends the Customs Act 1901 and other Commonwealth acts to reflect the new arrangements and to complement provisions in the Australian Border Force Bill.

The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill provides that the integrated department will be a law enforcement agency under the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006. This will ensure that the integrity commissioner will have unhindered ability to investigate suspected law enforcement related corrupt activity across my department, regardless of the role, location or job title of an individual officer.

The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill also recognises that ABF workers may be required to conduct fast-moving and inherently high-risk operations relating to Australia's national security or defence. It amends the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to enable the ABF Commissioner to make declarations clarifying how the Work Health and Safety Act applies or is modified in relation to certain operations in these contexts.

The Australian Border Force Bill and the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian Border Force) Bill underpin the government's commitment to ensure the protection of the Australian community and to enhance border protection integrity. The bills improve our border agencies' capacity to manage exponential growth in trade and travel, to assist and handle more complex cargo supply chains and passenger travel routes, and to bolster the ability to combat transnational crime syndicates that seek to exploit any weaknesses in our systems and so harm our community.

I thank all members who have participated in this debate and for their support of these important bills. I commend the bills to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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