Photo courtesy of Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.
Opinion – Paul Zalai, Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA)
2012 ended with significant controversy further questioning the integrity of Australia’s borders.
Organised crime has infiltrated government agencies with arrests of customs and quarantine officers at Sydney airport (for full details please refer to the feature article).
This activity will somewhat override the numerous successful interventions that these government agencies achieved over the last 12 months. The response from government has been appropriate, promising greater internal surveillance, integrity testing and other safeguard procedures. This will also result in any relationship between these government agencies and the import sector becoming more ‘clinical’. There will be no longer any point in industry contacting Customs to check the status of consignments selected for risk assessment as Customs will not be able to tell you.
Customs will no doubt further examine opportunities to reform systems and processes. Last year’s Operation Polaris identified illegal activity within the logistics sector, resulting in tightening of Integrated Cargo System (ICS) functionality as well as customs broker and depot licensing conditions. It is anticipated that Customs will further reform its targeting strategies, aiming to obtain further data about importers through the much-discussed concept of ‘entity-based’ risk assessment. It is also likely that the government will want to see changes in the very near future, with 2013 being an election year and border protection featuring in campaign activity.
In a formal submission to Customs and Border Protection, FTA has recommended specific solutions to enhance current systems and risk assessment methodologies. FTA has also offered assistance in ongoing reforms in an aim to help protect Australian borders and increase facilitation of legitimate trade. If this outcome can be achieved, the short-term pain of the 2012 controversies may be a blessing, as it may have been the necessary catalyst of longer term reforms benefiting the Australian community and commerce.
