Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

This bill which, you would be pleased to hear, Mr President, the Labor Party is supporting seeks to make some minor amendments to the Customs Act. These amendments remove anomalies arising from changes in the nature of modern transport which have rendered some existing Customs and Border Protection procedures ineffective.

The bill extends the powers of Customs and Border Protection officers to examine the bags of domestic travellers and domestic cargo on international flights and voyages. It is an extraordinary thing in itself, you would have thought. At present officers have the power to question all travellers, whether they are international or domestic travellers on the domestic leg of an international flight or voyage, in relation to dutiable, excisable or prohibited goods. However, they do not have the power to examine the personal effects of domestic travellers and domestic cargo on an international flight or voyage.

Domestic travellers on international flights or voyages have the opportunity to mingle with international travellers during embarkation or disembarkation, during processing on an aircraft or ship, and in transit lounges. The department advises that this provides opportunities for bag switches or other exchanges of goods between domestic and international travellers. This can occur before international travellers are cleared on arrival or after international travellers are cleared on departure.

The mixing of domestic cargo and imported goods or goods for export presents risks for diversion of prohibited goods, or goods subject to border related duties and taxes from one stream to the other. Sections of the act will provide Customs and Border Protections officers with powers to examine domestic cargo and the personal effects of domestic travellers who complete a domestic leg of an international flight or voyage. There is no intention to require domestic cargo to be reported.

The bill also extends control on arrival of ships and aircraft at places that are not proclaimed ports. Section 68 of the Customs Act requires the master of a ship or a pilot of an aircraft to bring the vessel or aircraft to a proclaimed port unless bad weather or other reasonable causes prevent them from doing so. However, the growth in Australia's offshore resources and the development of the cruise ship industry have changed the pattern of maritime arrivals. Increasingly, ships are required to arrive from outside Australia to a place that is not a proclaimed port. In 2013, Australian cruise ship passenger numbers reached a record high of 833,000, making this country the world leader in the rate of growth and market penetration. The 20 per cent growth rate for the Australian industry in 2013 was more than double that achieved in other cruise ship markets. This growth rate has continued, with more ships deployed in local waters last year than at any other time.

As the legislation currently stands, however, Customs and Border Protection officers do not have the power to control goods that arrive at an unproclaimed port. These amendments will correct that anomaly by extending customs control to unproclaimed ports. Instead of requiring ships or aircraft to arrive at a proclaimed port or airport where border activities can be managed, Customs and Border Protection officers will be able to manage risk and conduct the necessary activities at places that are not proclaimed. To provide equivalence of search and examination powers, the definition of 'designated place' and 'customs place' will therefore be amended.

The bill also standardises the application process for missions to load and unload ships and aircraft stores, or the transfer of goods between certain vessels, and for applying for certificates of clearance before departure. At present, there is a lack of detail about what these forms must contain. The amendment seeks to overcome this by introducing an approved form and will also simplify the process and make it more user-friendly by allowing for reporting online. The amendments give the CEO of Customs and Border Protection greater flexibility in dealing with arrival reports for ships and aircraft and for the reporting of stores and prohibited goods on such vessels. At present, ships and aircraft arriving in Australia must provide the Customs and Border Protection Service with the particulars of their arrival and of stores of any prohibited goods at the time of arrival. These reports must be made, in relation to a ship, within 24 hours of the ships arrival, disregarding weekends and public holidays, and, in relation to aircraft, within three hours of arrival. These reports are necessary to assess the risk of items that may be on board and to establish a plan to deal with them—for example, firearms or narcotics, which may be required to be contained or managed in a certain way.

The existing requirements have become inconvenient and sometimes burdensome, especially with regard to ships. Ships may arrive in a port with prohibited stores on a Friday afternoon but the inspection may not be possible and the appropriate measures may not be put in place until the following Monday or even the following Tuesday if it has been a long weekend. These amendments will allow the CEO of Customs to specify by legislative instrument, which will be disallowable, when the reports must be made for different kinds of ships and aircraft in different circumstances. Reports will be required to be made at the appropriate time to minimise the inconvenience for the master or owner of a ship or the pilot or owner of an aircraft.

The changes will also allow the Customs and Border Protection service to deal with information in these reports at a more convenient time to provide earlier assessments and deploy resources more efficiently. These changes do not apply to cargo; they only apply to stores and prohibited goods. The bill also corrects technical errors arising from the interaction of the Customs and Border Protection Service Infringement Notice Scheme and the claims processes for seized goods. Since February last year, infringement notices can be issued for strict or absolute liability offences under the act, including importing prohibited items. There has been an unintended consequence of the Infringement Notice Scheme. As well as notices being issued, prohibited goods can also be seized and then dealt with under the claims process set out in a separate section of the act. Under the Infringement Notice Scheme, goods would be taken to be condemned by the Crown if the goods are prohibited imports. If the recipient pays a penalty for the infringement notice, it is subsequently withdrawn. Under the act, if a seizure notice is served a person has 30 days to make a claim for the return of goods. A claim for the return of goods may be made; but if not made within 30 days after the seizure notice, the goods will be taken to be condemned as forfeit to the Crown. However, a claim for the return of goods may not be made if goods have been taken to be condemned as forfeit to the Crown. The legal status of the goods is therefore complicated if both a seizure notice and an infringement notice have been issued and the penalty has been paid, but the notices later withdrawn. Basically, that means you cannot get any goods back. These amendments will correct the error and ensure a smooth interaction between the infringement scheme and the seizure process. The changes will mean that the condemnation of goods will not apply if an INS notice is withdrawn. They will allow a person up to 30 days after the INS notice is withdrawn to make a claim for the goods, when the goods have been seized, a seizure notice has been served, an INS for the offence in relation to the importation of the goods has been given, the penalty has been paid within a required time and the INS is subsequently withdrawn.

There is currently no provision in the act's interpretation for action by statutory authorities and the current provisions only allow for the CEO of Customs to authorise a class of person. The law remains unsettled as to whether an authorisation will apply to future officers or positions within an authorised class that comes into existence after the authorisation is given. These amendments will change the definition of an authorised officer so the authorisation can apply to officers or positions which come into existence after the authorisation of a class of officers is given.

This omnibus bill has been in preparation for some time, as this speech has been. These amendments will also improve the operations of the Customs Act in responding to issues that have been identified by practitioners, especially owners and operators in the cruise ship industry. It is important that border protection measures continue to be refined through bills such as this to ensure the Australian community is protected and international criminal enterprises are prevented from entering our borders.