For some months now the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, ASIO and other agencies have been working on a new border control system for Australia.
This new approach would greatly enhance the already strong border control mechanism we have in place.
Australia's border control system is arguably more effective than any other in the world, primarily because it does not allow for the visa-free entry of anyone except Australian citizens.
The next generation border control system will be smarter, increasingly flexible and more agile and able to adjust more quickly to changes in the security environment and to available intelligence.
My Government has decided to accelerate the introduction of this new system. It will now come into operation in September.
The new border control system will involve:
- new levels of electronic connectivity, particularly between DIAC and ASIO; - advanced analysis of personal details for all travellers to Australia; - higher quality data matching; - more efficient systems with enhanced auditing capacity to ensure that security requirements do not slow down processes affecting legitimate business and tourism.
This new system of advanced identity management will enable our border control authorities to check the travel and certain behavioural patterns of visa applicants to determine if they might constitute a security threat to Australia.
The task of border control is, on the one hand, to identify known people of concern and false documents and on the other, to try to identify unknown people who on further investigation should also be refused entry.
Our security checking arrangements already cover such matters as criminal history and terrorist connections, including training with terrorist organisations and financing of terrorist acts.
These new measures will include, amongst other techniques, matching movement and financial data with associations a person may have overseas or in Australia to provide a more comprehensive picture and targeted security advice.
Australia's record to date is very good. Approximately half of the visas refused on security grounds each year come from that unknown category.
Given the stark challenges of today's security environment and the rapid growth in the number of international visitors to Australia, the task is to be even more effective with border control. That is the purpose of the new and stronger system.
Additional resources will be provided to both the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and ASIO this financial year to support this important step forward in controlling Australia's borders.