Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The Customs Amendment (Serious Drugs Detection) Bill 2011 will enable officers of Customs, using prescribed equipment, to undertake an internal non-medical scan of a person who is suspected to be internally concealing a suspicious substance. Currently, under the Customs Act, an internal search, including an internal scan, can only be carried out by a medical practitioner at a place specified in the regulations. The Customs Regulations 1926 specify a hospital or the surgery or other practising rooms of a medical practitioner for this purpose. The amendments will allow, with the consent of a detainee, an initial non-medical internal scan of a person to be carried out by an officer of Customs using body scan technology that is to be prescribed in the regulations. This technology produces a computer image of a person's internal cavities within a skeletal structure as opposed to images of external body parts. Such images may serve to allay an officer's suspicion that a passenger is internally concealing a suspicious substance, in which case the detainee would be released immediately. Where, however, a body scan image supports s suspicion of an internal concealment, the existing regime concerning internal searches by a medical practitioner will apply.

The existing safeguards applicable to the equipment used in the conduct of an external search of a detainee will be extended to the body scan equipment to be used to carry out a non-medical internal scan. For example, before a body scanner could be deployed, the chief executive officer of Customs would have to provide a statement to the minister that the equipment can be safely used to detect prohibited goods and that it poses no risk, or minimal risk, to the health of the person being scanned. In addition, before officers of Customs can use a body scanner, they would have to complete approved training in its use.

The extension of the internal search regime to include a non-medical internal scan by an officer of Customs will reduce the number of people who are referred to a hospital for internal examination by a medical practitioner. It will reduce the significant resource costs and medical costs incurred in the current process; it will reduce the impact on hospital emergency units; it will enhance early and accurate identification and referral for medical examination of people suspected of internally carrying drugs; and finally, through early identification of internal concealment, it will minimise potential threats to life and reduce the number of persons requiring transportation to hospital by ambulance on the basis of deteriorating health during detention.

These amendments will enable the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service to exercise its border responsibilities more efficiently and effectively.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.