Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Well, there are many countries in the world. There will probably be the need to go through what the individual relationships are between Australia and each jurisdiction. I should also mention that we do have—as you know, Senator—as part of this legislation the capacity to notify the Department of Immigration and Border Protection of people who may be directors in these foreign countries, to place them on an alert list. There are also other disruptive measures. The amendments also extend the ambit of enforcement to affiliates and agents. Someone illegal operators engage a network of Australian-based agents and affiliates to recruit customers, so there is a greater capacity to deal with these individuals.

But you are right: the fact that some activities take place in foreign countries where there might not necessarily be those sorts of relationships with other agencies can prove to be an issue. But Australia is always working on ensuring that we have those good relationships where we can with partner agencies overseas.