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

I acknowledge that there are some great young people in the gallery today. I rise to speak on the Transport Security Amendment (Serious or Organised Crime) Bill 2016.

There were over three million aircraft movements at Australian airports, with 149 million regular public transport passenger movements through Australian airports, in the year ended December 2015. With such significant numbers of people moving through our airports, the potential for organised crime to take advantage of any gaps is very real. Australia's borders, both maritime and airspace, have been made more secure through significant investment by the coalition government. While the global threat of terrorism is clearly significant, the scourge of organised crime is a very serious issue, and this government is getting on with the job of dealing with it.

This bill implements an election commitment to ensure that people with a relevant criminal history can never receive a security clearance to work at Australian airports and seaports. A number of independent reviews, including the 2011 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement inquiry into the adequacy of aviation and maritime security measures to combat serious and organised crime, have noted that those involved in serious and organised crime are exploiting secure maritime and aviation areas for criminal purposes.

Under Labor, people with a relevant criminal history were able to get security clearances to work at ports and airports where cargo comes into the country. On some occasions, these people were found to be acting corruptly to help criminals and make smuggling operations easier. An example of the results of organised crime activities at our airports was addressed in December 2015, when the National Ice Taskforce reported a substantial increase in ice imports to Australia in recent years. Over five tonnes of ice were seized at the Australian border between 2010 and 2015. Not only did the task force report that airports and maritime ports are gateways for these imports; it also noted that the growing use of ice in regional Australia must be recognised and appropriately addressed.

In 2013-14 alone, the work of the multiagency task forces targeting criminal exploitation of Australian ports and related supply chain activity at the waterfronts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane resulted in 56 arrests and the seizure of 138 kilograms of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals, as well as the seizure of 177 tonnes of tobacco and seven firearms.

This bill responds to the National Ice Taskforce recommendation to strengthen the eligibility criteria for the aviation security identification card, or ASIC, and the maritime security identification card, or MSIC. As at 31 December 2015, there were approximately 138,000 ASICs and 118,000 MSICs in use.

This measure also responds to recent cases where people with serious or organised criminal backgrounds have successfully challenged on their eligibility to hold a card. This bill will strengthen the government's ability to tackle the supply of the drug ice, the importation of the chemicals used in its manufacture, and the individuals and criminal gangs or syndicates who traffic them. The parents of Australia are particularly grateful for this. The changes will not remove any of the existing appeal rights, and there will be no additional burden on applicants for an ASIC or MSIC. The current eligibility criteria mitigate the risks of unlawful interference with aviation or maritime transport, and do not include a number of offences relevant to securing our infrastructure and border environments. They fail to consider offences from anti-gang and criminal organisation legislation, illegal importation of goods and interfering with goods under Australian Border Force control.

By anyone's standard, persons with a history of committing these types of offences constitute a risk if given unsupervised access to the secure areas of our transport infrastructure. For example, currently a person convicted of the illegal importation of goods is able to receive an MSIC. The new criteria will address these vulnerabilities. People with serious criminal convictions will no longer be eligible to hold either card. This bill takes a proportionate approach to the application of these new eligibility criteria: Less serious offences will require a longer term of imprisonment to become an aviation or maritime security-relevant offence, while more serious offences will only require conviction. This would mean that a single irresponsible or ill-considered act would not automatically exclude a person from the schemes. The shift in focus from low-level or minor offences to higher risk offences related to serious or organised crime means that more applicants will be found initially eligible for an ASIC or MSIC. This will mean these people will be issued their ASIC or MSIC more quickly, reducing impact on their employment and increasing the staff available to employers. This change will be good for aviation businesses around the country, particularly in regional Australia. Aviation links are a crucial part of bridging the vast distances in Australia, and they have been since 1910 when the first powered flight was made. The potential for aviation in this country has been realised ever since.

Existing cardholders need not be concerned. They are already required to self-report relevant offences. On commencement of these measures all cardholders will be required to self-report against offences in the new eligibility criteria. This is hardly a huge change and the intent to further strengthen our borders is prudent. Cardholders with relevant convictions against the new criteria will have their cards cancelled and will no longer have the ability to work unescorted in the secure areas of ports and airports. If you were talk to passengers, they would tell you they were very pleased about this. All existing appeals processes remain available for applicants. ASIC and MSIC requirements apply to all persons when in secure areas. These are the parts of Australia's air and sea ports that are subject to higher security measures specifically to protect critical or vulnerable aspects of our transport infrastructure—as they should.

I heard the member for Bendigo in her contribution discuss the proposed eligibility criteria for the ASIC and the MSIC. The proposed criteria are set out in the bill and are structured to give the respective agencies maximum flexibility: tier 1, disqualifying offences; tier 2, adverse with any form of conviction; tier 3, adverse with any form of imprisonment; tier 4, adverse with 12 months or more imprisonment; and tier 5, adverse with 30 months or more imprisonment. The new eligibility criteria offer relevant agencies flexibility in managing the ASIC and MSIC scheme, ensuring that there are safeguards against people with a serious criminal background working in sensitive areas of our ports and airports—a very good outcome. The member for Bendigo raised questions about whether the changes in eligibility criteria will prevent union officials or OH&S representatives from accessing airports and ports. She raised these questions in the context of saying that this side of the House was well known to hate unions and uses all means available to break them. I think it is a dreadful shame that the member for Bendigo has injected such spurious suggestions into this debate. It is clear that this legislation is not aimed at union officials or OH&S representatives, and any such suggestion is nonsensical—it is beneath any member of this place to make such a suggestion. It is self-evidently aimed at ensuring the people who work at our airports and ports are people of good character. As the member for Grayndler said earlier, national security should not be a political plaything, and I direct the member for Bendigo to the member for Grayndler's very sound comments. I commend the opposition in a broader sense for supporting this sensible and important legislation.

Organised crime is a serious threat to our national security and is estimated to cost the Australian economy $36 billion a year. We in our electorates frequently see evidence of the impact of serious and organised crime. These amendments deliver on the Australian government's commitment to ensure that people with a relevant criminal history can never receive a security clearance to work at Australia's airports and seaports. The ASIC and MSIC schemes are designed to protect the aviation and maritime transport systems against acts of terrorism and unlawful interference. If we did not do that, the Australian people would hold us to account for that inaction. These changes will boost our law enforcement agencies' ability to combat transnational and domestic organised crime—the very creative sectors that they are—by introducing additional offences to capture high-risk criminal activities. This will mean Australia's airports and seaports are less susceptible to exploitation from serious or organised crime.

As I previously stated, a number of reports have indicated that Australia has become a target for organised criminals from all around the world. Importantly, today's changes will implement the National Ice Taskforce's recommendation to strengthen the ASIC and MSIC schemes to limit the distribution of ice throughout the community. The new criteria will be applied to new applications and applications by existing ASIC and MSIC card holders from 1 July 2016. Given the issues around ice which exist within our communities, I am very well aware that not only parents but a range of individuals and community groups will be very grateful for any action this government takes to reduce and limit the distribution of ice in the community. This legislation is intent on tackling the impact ice has on families and individuals, the damage it does and the way it ruins lives. I commend this bill, and its intent, to the House.

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