Output 2 - Facilitation of the legitimate movement of people across the border, while identifying illegal movements
Output 2 pricing is shown in the financial statements.
This Output covers processing of passengers, crew and craft arriving and departing Australia by sea or air, including the identification of persons of interest consistent with immigration, health, family law and other law enforcement, and national security requirements.
Key objectives in 2004–05 were to:
- access additional airline reservation systems
- progress the SmartGate trial and inform government of the outcomes of the trial
- enhance counter terrorism initiatives in airports
- investigate methods to facilitate passengers through international air and seaports while maintaining border protection
- develop and implement a passenger enforcement training program
- enhance passenger enforcement operations.
Key achievements were:
- increased access to flight and passenger information held in airline computer reservation and control systems to 85 per cent of passengers arriving in Australia
- additional pre-arrival assessment conducted against indicators of potential terrorist or criminal activity
- extension of the SmartGate trial during 2004–05. Funding of $74.607m was received in the 2005–06 Budget to implement automated border processing nationally
- improved facilitation such as streamlined ‘back of the hall’ processing, employment of additional staff, redesigned red/green exits and introduction of more efficient queuing systems
- delivery of comprehensive training packages to all staff and creation of focus groups at all airports to implement counter terrorism initiatives
- finalisation of the passenger enforcement components of the Customs Trainee training material
- development and delivery of a deception and detection training course
- implementation of a National Airport Planning Interface
- development and introduction of an airport planning model.
After several years of low and negative growth in passenger numbers brought about by global terrorism and health threats, there was a significant growth in passenger numbers in 2004–05. The extent of growth in the first half of 2004–05 presented significant challenges for Customs. Maintaining service levels and effective border security capability with increased passenger numbers required a focused and innovative approach.
This was particularly so during the Christmas period. Customs initiatives to better manage resources, improve procedures and use technology, ensured that reasonable levels of passenger facilitation were maintained.
Customs continued to investigate technological improvements such as passenger screening in advance of arrival and biometrics. Implementation of these measures improved Customs detection rates and facilitated the legitimate movement of people across the border while assisting with the identification of illegal movements.
Customs applies a risk assessment process to identify passengers who might pose a threat to Australia. It relies on information and intelligence from a wide range of sources and sophisticated profiling and analysis tools to target interventions while allowing the vast majority of passengers to proceed unhindered.
All passengers are checked against immigration and law enforcement alert systems before they arrive in Australia. Customs also increased its capacity to conduct pre-arrival assessment against indicators of potential terrorist or criminal activity to 85 per cent of arriving passengers. This pre-screening resulted in more efficient processing. Customs officials at the border concentrated their efforts on the much smaller number of passengers who were not pre-screened or who were assessed as being a higher risk.
Figure 20: Performance against targets set in the 2004–05 Portfolio Budget Statement – Output 2
| Quality/quantity performance measures | Target* |
Actual |
|---|---|---|
Facilitate legitimate movement of people |
||
Quality |
||
Proportion of arriving international air passengers processed through the Entry Control Point within 30 minutes of arrival |
95% |
95.1% |
Percentage of arriving passengers processed via advance passenger clearance processes |
90% |
98%^ |
Quality |
||
Number of international passengers (air and sea) |
Arrivals 10 305 000 |
10 530 367 |
Departures 10 253 000 |
10 419 944 |
|
Number of international crew (air and sea) |
Arrivals 878 000 |
921 435 |
Departures 872 000 |
923 767 |
|
Prevent illegal movements across the border |
||
Quality |
||
Number of air passenger referrals to Immigration and Health |
Immigration** |
266 731 |
Health** |
3 707 |
|
Price |
$107.926m |
$117.899m |
* Targets may be performance targets, service level targets or estimates.
** Performance targets cannot be estimated through any reliable statistical or other method.
^ Figures sources from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and taken as at 30 June 2005.