Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The bill before the House makes two unrelated amendments to the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004, the bill which governs our aviation security arrangements in Australia. Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 the former coalition government took action to improve aviation security regulations in Australia. The coalition announced a complete restructure of the aviation security system in December 2002 and over time we implemented further amendments to modernise the act to better respond to emerging threats and new technologies. Developments in aviation security have largely received bipartisan support and the coalition has previously supported sensible changes to aviation security arrangements proposed by this government. The current bill is no exception and will receive the coalition's support.

Turning to the amendments contained within the bill, the bill makes two different changes, one to correct a drafting error and one substantive change designed to strengthen our aviation security regulatory arrangements and to supervise their operation. To deal firstly with the technical amendment, the drafting error, the bill before the House corrects a drafting error contained within a 2011 amendment to the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004. This earlier bill incorrectly amended paragraph 65(3)(b) of the act instead of paragraph 65(3)(c).

The more substantive amendment contained within the bill will introduce provisions to allow the minister through disallowable instrument to prohibit the carriage of certain types of cargo into Australia on aircraft. This change will enhance Australia's ability to respond to ongoing threats in aviation security. In October 2010, terrorists operating from Yemen concealed improvised explosive devices inside printers and sent them as air cargo consignments to the USA. Thankfully, intelligence information led to the successful interception of the packages in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, and they never reached their intended recipient.

In Australia, the government responded by increasing security requirements for cargo from Yemen and Somalia using a special security direction issued to regulated air cargo agents. This required the screening of all inbound air cargo arriving from the Middle East. Later, special security directions were used to ban the carriage of cargo from Yemen and Somalia altogether. However, special security directions were designed as a measure to deal quickly and efficiently with new security threats. They were not intended as a means by which the government could address the longer term, ongoing threats to Australia's security. For this reason, special security directions have a maximum duration of six months.

Under current arrangements, the ongoing prohibition of air cargo consignments from Yemen and Somalia has required all aircraft operators to amend their transport security programs. This entailed each aircraft operator manually amending their security documentation, which was then assessed and individually approved by the department. This is a cumbersome task and not suited to a timely or cohesive response to a serious ongoing national security threat.

To address this concern, the bill will introduce a new mechanism whereby the minister can propose a disallowable instrument to prohibit the carriage of certain types of cargo into Australia. The instrument may be so broad as to prohibit all air cargo entering Australian territory or be limited to a particular type of cargo or types of cargoes, depending on the nature of the threat proposed. As the minister noted in his second reading speech, the disallowable instrument could cover cargo originating from a particular country or countries, cargo packaged in a particular way or cargo weighing between particular amounts.

The bill also creates a strict liability offence for failing to comply with an instrument made by the minister under this mechanism and imposes a penalty of $17,000 for individuals and $34,000 for aircraft operators. As a general principle, I am concerned that the current government has developed a propensity to introduce strict liability offences in aviation and I do not consider this to be best policy. But I have come to the view that, even though I have some concerns about that from a philosophical perspective, to delay the bill and to seek a better way to deal with any breaches of the legislation would in fact delay it unnecessarily. This amendment will ensure that current and future governments are able to respond appropriately to emerging but also ongoing security threats and would reduce the administrative burden on industry. For these reasons, the coalition will support the bill.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Inbound Cargo Security Enhancement) Bill 2013 makes two different amendments to the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004, the bill which governs aviation security in Australia. After the terrible terrorists attacks of 9/11, the Howard-Anderson coalition government took the necessary and prompt action to strengthen aviation security regulations in Australia. The coalition announced a complete restructure of the aviation security system in December 2002. Over the course of time, the government has implemented further amendments to modernise the act to respond faster and more effectively to new technologies and emerging threats. Developments in aviation security have generally received bipartisan support, as they should, and the coalition has previously supported very necessary changes to aviation security proposed by the Labor government. The current bill is no exception to that. As you have just heard from the shadow transport minister, this will also receive coalition support. The bill makes two unrelated changes: to correct a drafting error and a substantive alteration which is meant to strengthen our aviation security regulatory arrangements.

To deal with the technical amendment initially, the bill before the House remedies a drafting error which was contained within a 2011 amendment to the Aviation Transport Security Act as you just heard from the Nationals leader. The earlier bill incorrectly amended subsection 65(3)(b) of the act instead of 65(3)(c), so it is obviously necessary to alter that. The other more substantive amendment contained within the bill will introduce provisions to allow the minister of the day, through disallowable instrument, to stop the carriage of certain types of cargo into Australia on aircraft. This is obviously very necessary because of emerging technologies and because of the ever present danger as there are many mad and bad people out there who would threaten the security and peace of Australian society.

In October 2010, terrorist operating from Yemen concealed improvised explosive devices inside printers. There is no stopping these people. They sent them as a cargo consignments to the United States of America. Fortunately, intelligence information led to the successful interception of these packages in Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates, and they never reached their intended destinations, their targets. They were meant to maim and kill people and it was necessary to stop them, and fortunately that did happen. In Australia, the government responded by increasing security requirements for cargo from Somalia and Yemen using a special security direction issued to regulated air cargo agents. This was absolutely essential. This required the screening of all inbound air cargo arriving from the Middle East.

Later special security directions were used to ban the carriage of cargo from Somalia and Yemen altogether. However, special security directions were formulated as a measure to deal efficiently with new security threats and, as we know, they are ever present. They were not meant to be a way by which the government could address longer-term ongoing threats to Australian security, because the special security directions have a maximum time frame of just six months. Under present arrangements, the ongoing prohibition of air cargo consignments from Somalia and Yemen has required all aircraft operators to amend transport security programs. This entails aircraft operators to manually amend security documentation to be assessed and individually approved by the department. This is an onerous task and it is not suited to a timely or fast response to a serious ongoing national security threat which obviously needs to be nipped in the bud instantly.

To address this concern, the bill will introduce a new provision whereby the minister can propose a disallowable instrument to prohibit the carriage of certain types of cargo into our country, and obviously our security is paramount. The instrument may be so broad as to prohibit all air cargo entering Australian territory or be limited to a particular type of cargo or types of cargo depending on the nature of the posed threat. As the minister noted in his second reading speech, the disallowable instrument could cover cargo originating from a particular country or countries, cargo packaged in a particular way or cargo weighing particular amounts. The bill also creates a strict liability offence, as we heard from the member for Wide Bay, for failing to comply with an instrument made by the minister under this mechanism, and imposes a penalty of $17,000 for individuals and $34,000 for aircraft operators.

This amendment will ensure that current and future governments are able to respond appropriately and necessarily to emerging but ongoing security threats and will reduce the administrative burden on industry, and therefore they are supported by the coalition. Airport security in regional areas is also obviously of paramount importance.

If you fly from Wagga Wagga on a Rex plane, you do not go through security measures but if you fly Qantas then you do. This has caused a bit of a problem for the Griffith community, which has lost its connection to Melbourne. The President of the Griffith Business Chamber, Paul Pierotti, has hit out at Dubbo City Council's decision to charge all users of the regional airport security screening fees, describing it as short sighted in the extreme. Mr Pierotti said Griffith was desperate to get a Melbourne flight link after Rex closed its service in June. He said Rex flew between 60,000 and 90,000 passengers a year to Sydney but closed its Melbourne service because of cost pressures within the company. It was unfortunate to lose the service because many people in Griffith need to fly to Melbourne for business and other purposes. Hopefully, a resolution can be forged between the Griffith and Dubbo councils and hopefully that will be soon. It does concern airport security. It is a necessary thing for the people of Griffith and I urge the minister to do whatever he can to help that process along.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the members for their contribution and I thank the fact that this legislation will receive the unanimous support of the House. The introduction of the Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Inbound Cargo Security Enhancement) Bill 2013 is an important step in strengthening Australia's air cargo security measures.

The attempted cargo bomb plot on 29 October 2010 involved improvised explosive devices hidden in printers on air consignments sent from Yemen to the United States. I was in London at the time and, with my officials, had briefings on the incident from the appropriate British authorities. There was a concern that the consignments potentially could explode over British air space. The incident clearly demonstrated the potential for terrorists to stage attacks using the global air cargo system.

In responding to the Yemen incident, my department issued special security directions to prohibit air cargo originating in or transiting Yemen or Somalia from being carried to Australia. Upon the expiration of those directions, the prohibition was continued, with my department directing relevant aviation industry participants to vary their transport security programs. Although this additional measure achieved the desired affect, varying security programs is cumbersome and creates an excessive administrative burden for both industry and government.

The new powers conferred by this bill change that. The ability for the minister to prohibit certain inbound cargo from entering Australia through the use of a disallowable instrument provides the government with a mechanism to respond effectively and efficiently on a national basis to security threats. In preparing this bill my department consulted extensively with other government agencies to ensure that all security, trade and foreign affairs issues were explored. No decision to prohibit inbound air cargo will be taken without consultation with the ministers for foreign affairs and trade, and that is appropriate. Additionally, a disallowable instrument created under this legislation is subject to an appropriate level of scrutiny, transparency and accountability by the parliament.

The government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of Australians and Australian interests. We wish that this did not have to occur but we have to deal with the world as it is rather than as we would like it to be. There are threats to our security and the consequences for our economy of a security incident on an Australian aircraft mean that we need to put in place measures which ensure diligence, which ensure appropriate overview and which ensure a legislative framework that gives confidence to the Australian public that the government ensures their safety is the first priority.

The passage of this bill will provide the government with a sound, transparent and effective legal basis to mitigate specific threats that may arise in the global air cargo system. I thank all members who participated in the debate. I thank the House for its support for this important legislation, which I commend to it.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.