On 3 July 2013, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service released a Blueprint for Reform of the Service. A link to the Blueprint can be accessed via the link below.
http://customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/ACBPS-Blueprint-for-Reform-2013-2018.pdf
AFF members may be particularly interested in the reform area around travellers (page 37)
I have not yet read the detailed document, so I hope that the comments below are relevant and not simply 'ignorant.'
One thing that stands out is the low usage of electronic entry gates despite (all?) Australian citizens now having microchipped passports. Even when there is a minimal queue at the e-gates, I have observed many arriving passengers queuing to be manually processed by an immigration officer. I can't imagine passengers like to wait longer. Are they simply unaware of the e-gates?
Once when searched, I waited for slightly in excess of 30 minutes at customs in MEL, yet was second in a queue of three arriving passengers who had been selected. The custom officer's introductory spiel was way too long. Surely a brief statement about what he or she is doing and the passenger's rights and responsibilities would be sufficient.
I gather that the current Federal Government has cut back on staffing at immigration. The queue for departing passengers is annoying at times in MEL. I was told by an immigration official that the Federal Government had not just reduced numbers of staff (despite the growing revenue from the departure tax and passport issuing) but had until recently declined to provide more staff at MEL than BNE had, despite MEL having about 40 per cent more international air passengers.
All this, of course, pales into relative insignificance compared with SYD, where on occasion I have waited in a huge queue and eventually have been taken to an exit down the end of the arrivals hall to reduce queue numbers. However that was a couple of years ago so procedures may have altered.
As a side issue, Customs and Border Protection now has to work very hard to overcome the extremely bad publicity surrounding allegedly corrupt employees. This is why I never sneer at our Asian neighbours when countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, mainland China, Philippines and South Korea are accused of having varying levels of corruption. It may take different forms, but we have it in Australia. The difference is that the Westminster legal system is more highly developed than some others.
While outside the scope of the AFF website, many of us note how despite having this government agency tasked with 'protecting our borders', many illegal economic migrants who arrive by either air or the more highly publicised sea route are claiming 'asylum' and being allowed to reside in the community under the current Federal government. This needs to stop. We have an immigration program for good reason, yet it is being subverted.
