George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on the importance of cooperation with the United States on border security, particularly in the wake of the stunning election of the courageous Donald J Trump as President of the USA?

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

Can I also pass on my congratulations, following his election to the Brisbane City Council, to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, who is up in the gallery today. He is a great Australian. Good to see you here, Lord Mayor. For all of those people interested in the relationship between the US and Australia, please visit the MacArthur Museum in Brisbane. It provides a great opportunity to explore the rich history between our two great nations.

The friendship that has endured over many decades between our two countries, during times of war and peace, is well-documented. We share many of the same values. We celebrate each other's cultures, and our governments and societies share many foundational beliefs and institutions. Australia has a proud history of close cooperation with the United States, and I was very pleased in February this year to be in Washington DC, where I met with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson. He is a very integral part of the Obama administration, and I want to recognise the work that he has done as part of President Obama's national security team. We have had a very close relationship, in terms of not just defence relationships but also the links between our border protection agencies. There is a ready exchange of information, on a daily basis, with the millions of movements across our respective borders. We have a great level of cooperation. I pay tribute to Jeh Johnson, and I look forward very much to establishing close cooperation with the incoming Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration.

The government works with the US through multilateral fora, such as the Five Country Conference and Border Five—B5. We also share risk profiles with the US Department of Homeland Security to enhance the integrity of our visa program and inform Customs targeting. I am sure that all Australians will be pleased to know that Operation Angel Watch allows us to share data with the United States to identify and reject registered sex offenders who apply for Australian visas. The very practical impact of this very important relationship is felt and understood by all Australians.

Australia gets particular value from the Secure Real-Time Platform by which immigration information is exchanged between partners on the basis of biometric or fingerprint queries. Through this program, we have identified several known or suspect terrorist matches, identity discrepancies and records of immigration offences. I want to say a particular thankyou to the US authorities for the work that they have done with us in scrutinising each application of the 12,000 people we announced we would bring in from Syria. It has allowed us to identify over 20 people who are of interest to us—of interest to our intelligence and security agencies. Because of this close working cooperation, which will continue for decades to come, we will keep Australians safe.