Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the primary line at the airport, there will still be many passport holders who will have to be manually checked because the SmartGate system will only apply to a passport with an e-chip in it. That is what we are doing with Australian passports. If there is a rejection then that person is directed to a Customs officer, so there will still be training of Customs officers to deal with people in the time-honoured fashion. The SmartGate approach also involves the training of Customs officers so they will be ‘ambidextrous’. I still see many people being processed at the primary line by Customs officers because their passports are not capable of being part of the SmartGate process, so the skills will not be lost.