Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Having a system of collecting biometric information is a necessary element and an important part of the integrity of a strong border protection system. It is not something that is peculiar to Australia; in most nations throughout the world now, for new migrants, fingerprints and other biometric information are routinely collected at the borders. Australia is lucky to have some very well trained and professional staff who oversee our borders. Theirs is a difficult job, and it is incumbent upon the government to ensure that they have all the resources necessary to do that job well.

The reforms that are part of this bill today come about as a result of the inquiries that have been conducted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee On Intelligence And Security regarding the adequacy of our security and intelligence laws. We recently had an update to those laws that was a bipartisan commitment—from Labor and the coalition—to strengthen Australia's security and intelligence laws. And it has been helpful to see that those laws have been working, and that our police and intelligence organisations have had success in stopping potential terrorist activities here in Australia. This suite of reforms is part of that strengthening of those provisions.

Thousands of people cross Australia's borders every day, mainly via our eight international airports and the 60 seaports that people can access our island continent from. There are many things to consider in maintaining control of the flow of people into and out of Australia. Safety, of course, is one of the highest priorities. It is a difficult task, and one that is not getting any easier as the number of people who are coming to Australia continues to grow each year. In fact, movements are expected to grow from just over 33 million in 2012-13 to 50 million by 2020. This highlights the importance of managing the data associated with those movements. The purpose of this bill—the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Biometrics Integrity) Bill 2015—is to consolidate, simplify and enhance those provisions within the Migration Act relating to the collection of personal data and identifiers.

Facial recognition and fingerprint-matching biometric technology is not new. It has become a crucial part of the process of identifying persons and managing their migration through our borders. The term 'biometrics' refers to measurable physical characteristics of personal behaviour traits that are unique to an individual. Examples include fingerprints, iris scans, the shape of a person's ear, the way a person walks or a person's voice. These physical characteristics can be referred to as personal identifiers.

Personal identifiers such as fingerprints and facial images can be converted into biometric templates which allow them to be searched against other templates very quickly. Biometric systems can be used to compare someone's personal identifiers against stored copy or to search against all data holdings to see if a person is already known. In that context the provisions of this bill are intended to enhance the capability of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to identify persons seeking either to enter or to depart Australia and noncitizens who remain in Australia.

The majority of Australians will not be affected by this bill, and will not be required to provide fingerprints and iris scans on departing or entering Australia. The bill makes no change to the types of biometric information that can be collected. What the bill does is provide greater flexibility in respect of the collection of that information. For instance, at the airport mobile fingerprint scanners—if this legislation were to be passed—could now be used in the collection of fingerprints for newly-arrived migrants.

It is important to note that the department will not retain the biometric information of Australian citizens. It will only be used for identification verification purposes. However, there have been submissions, including by the Law Council of Australia, to the Senate inquiry which is currently looking into this bill, highlighting that this aspect should be strengthened in the legislation. I will make some comments regarding that in a moment. It is something that I think is important and something that should be given attention by the government.

The bill will also allow biometric information to be taken from a child or an incapable person without the consent or presence of a parent or guardian. The purpose behind this change is to put in place the same arrangements for the collection of fingerprints and iris scans for minors, the overriding aim of which is to provide better protection surrounding children. Child trafficking and smuggling, unfortunately, are on the increase. These are horrific crimes. Child trafficking may take the form of forced marriages, fraudulent adoptions or organised begging. These changes are designed to enhance the ability of law enforcement to break child-trafficking rings—to be able to identify children who may be part of such criminal activities.

In some cases, unfortunately, children are taken out of Australia by one parent who is involved in a custody dispute or battle that may still be before the courts, and without the consent of the other parent. Without the ability to identify that child it makes it all the more difficult for law enforcement agencies to prohibit those sorts of activities. These changes are designed to provide additional resources and additional powers to those enforcement agencies to combat those sorts of acts.

The provisions are also aimed at identifying radicalised minors who may seek to enter Australia, potentially with a mind to undertaking terrorist activities. Unfortunately, we are seeing all too frequently the threat that is posed with respect to people who would seek to harm other Australians in this manner. The department has advised that removing the age restriction on seeking consent is considered appropriate for the following reasons: the use of mobile, hand-held fingerprint scanners means that the collection of fingerprints will be less intrusive; experience to date in tracking and tackling child smuggling and trafficking cases makes this an effective deterrent; recent terrorist related incidents involving minors in conflicts in the Middle East and Africa; and the current age limit is inconsistent with other Five Country Conference partners and other countries. The current age limit has been used by people to avoid the relevant checks. They are some of the reasons why the department is seeking these additional powers.

It is important to note that in the submission to the Senate inquiry, as I mentioned earlier, the Law Council of Australia has recommended that the bill should include safeguards to ensure adequate protection of all people affected by the legislation, including those vulnerable groups such as minors. Given the weight of that evidence and given the fact that the Senate inquiry is still proceeding it is my belief, and the belief of the Labor Party, that the inquiry should be able to run its course. The parliament should wait for the recommendations of that inquiry in respect of this bill.

We do hold some concerns regarding this bill and the extremely sensitive nature of this matter and the material which is being collected. Naturally, Australians have concerns when government departments are collecting personal identifiers and biometric information. It is incumbent upon this parliament to do all that it can to put in place the appropriate safeguards to provide protection of the privacy of Australian citizens and migrants visiting or coming to and departing from Australia. In that respect, we believe it is unwise to move forward with this bill until those recommendations of the Senate inquiry have been tabled. I understand that will occur in early June.

For that reason I and my colleagues will reserve our position on this bill until the outcome of the Senate inquiry is known.

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