What border officials know about you

A fair bit of it is incorrect for Australia.
Relatively few people see PNR data, access to it is heavily restricted by law/ regulation. Primary officers ( those who process non Smartgate people), don't see travel history either. They don't want the staff there having a mosey through various bits of data, time is of the essence generally at this point. Plenty of other people and ( more likely) systems available do that out of sight.
 
How are about TRS claims? Last Friday I claimed the GST back on a $1500+ camera in Mel. About 20 hours later I returned to Mel and ticked yes that I had duty free goods over my $900 limit...the officer asked what I was declaring, told him, he seemed surprised I declared it (bet you most don't declare), and he waved me through :)
 
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....he seemed surprised I declared it (bet you most don't declare), and he waived me through :)

I'd be very surprised if most declared. In fact I'd say very few declare.

Same goes for goods bought overseas duty free.
 
How are about TRS claims? Last Friday I claimed the GST back on a $1500+ camera in Mel. About 20 hours later I returned to Mel and ticked yes that I had duty free goods over my $900 limit...the officer asked what I was declaring, told him, he seemed surprised I declared it (bet you most don't declare), and he waved me through :)
TRS data not seen at passport control. If you are of interest because of TRS or anything else you'll be added to a watch list, the system asks the officer to confirm or not the match. Others do the follow up action.
 
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