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Overview

Customs is responsible for managing the integrity of Australia’s borders. It works closely with other government and international agencies, in particular the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and the Department of Defence, to detect and deter unlawful movement of goods and people across the Australian border.

The agency is a national organisation employing about 4300 people in Australia and overseas, with its Central Office in Canberra. It has a fleet of ocean-going patrol vessels and contracts two aerial surveillance providers for civil maritime surveillance and response. Interception of illegal drugs is a high priority and sophisticated techniques are used to target high-risk aircraft, vessels, cargo, postal items and travellers. This includes intelligence analysis, computer-based analysis, detector dogs and various other technologies.

During 2000-01 Customs:

• cleared 4.2 million air cargo consignments and over 1.3 million sea cargo consignments
• facilitated in excess of 17.9 million people through international airports and seaports
• conducted nearly 4000 surveillance flights over coastal and offshore areas covering an area of about 121 million square nautical miles.

Through specific assistance schemes, Customs administered more than $500 million in financial assistance to industry and the community.

Customs is the largest collector of Commonwealth revenue after the Australian Taxation Office. Customs duties, indirect taxes and other revenue for which it is responsible amounted to over $6 billion in 2000-01.

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Role and functions

The vision of Customs is to be a world leader in customs administration, delivering high-quality service to the community, industry and commerce.

Customs has three principal roles:

• to facilitate trade and the movement of people across the Australian border while protecting the community and maintaining appropriate compliance with Australian law
• to efficiently collect customs revenue
• to administer specific industry schemes and trade measures.

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Authority and power

Customs derives its authority principally from the Australian Constitution, which provides for the levying of customs duties and for laws with respect to trade and commerce. Customs was established in its present form on 10 June 1985 by subsection 4(1) of the Customs Administration Act 1985.

The constitutional authority of Customs is given legislative expression through the Customs Act 1901, the Customs Tariff Act 1995 and related legislation. Customs also administers legislation on behalf of other government agencies, in relation to the movement of goods and people across the Australian border.

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Minister and Portfolio

Customs has been responsible to the Minister for Justice and Customs since 21 October 1998 and is an agency under the Attorney-General’s portfolio. Senator the Hon Chris Ellison was appointed Minister for Justice and Customs on 30 January 2001. He took over responsibility from the previous Minister, Senator the Hon Amanda Vanstone.

Subject to the Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO’s) statutory powers with regard to Customs, the Attorney-General has overall responsibility for the portfolio and its departments and agencies, including issues affecting the Portfolio Budget. In the Attorney-General’s Portfolio Budget Statements, Customs is included in the maintenance of law, order and safety group of agencies, being responsible for effective border management.

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Outcome and output structure

Outcome and outputs

Customs is funded and reports on one outcome and five outputs. The framework includes quantity and quality performance measures (for the outputs) and effectiveness measures (for the outcome).

The Customs outcome is the social and economic result that the Government seeks from the five outputs. Outputs are the services Customs delivers to Government and the community.

Figure 1: 2000-01 outcome/output framework

OUTCOME Effective border management that, with minimal disruption to legitimate trade and travel, prevents illegal movement across the border, raises revenue and provides trade statistics.
OUTPUT 1 Facilitation of the legitimate movement of goods across the border, while intercepting prohibited and restricted imports and exports.	OUTPUT 2 Facilitation of the legitimate movement of people across the border, while identifying illegal movements.	OUTPUT 3 Civil maritime surveillance and response.	OUTPUT 4 Administration of Customs duty and indirect taxes, other border-related revenue collections, and import/export statistics.	OUTPUT 5 Anti-dumping and countervailing administration.

Changes to outputs

The Customs outcome and output structure has not changed from 1999-2000.

However, the wording of output 4 was changed, to replace reference to ‘sales tax’ with ‘indirect taxes’. This was to take account of the additional responsibilities associated with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, Luxury Car Tax and Wine Equalisation Tax on imported goods and the role of Customs in administering the Tourist Refund Scheme.

In March 2001 the wording for output 3 was amended from ‘Coastal and offshore surveillance and response’ to ‘Civil maritime surveillance and response’, to better reflect the services delivered. The use of the word ‘civil’ distinguishes the surveillance and response activities of Customs from those provided by the Australian Defence Force. The change in wording does not affect the performance measures or activities undertaken under this output.

Output coordinators

Customs is a diverse organisation where core business activities often span multiple functions. To ensure a cohesive approach to service delivery, a senior manager is accountable for each of the five outputs, based on the area that is primarily responsible for the output.

Figure 2: Output coordinators

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