Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator the Honourable Christopher Martin Ellison, MP)Schedule 2 - Information about people working in restricted areas or issued with identification cards
Customs Act 1901
Item 1 - After Subdivision H of Division 1 of Part XII
This item inserts new subdivision HA into the Customs Act. This subdivision relates to information about people working in restricted areas or issued with security identification cards.
Employees at international airports include:
- 1.
- airport employees (for example, airport management and cleaners); and
- 2.
- airline employees (for example, baggage handlers and maintenance staff); and
- 3.
- employees of retail businesses that operate in the airport (for example, duty free stores and other retail outlets) and
- 4.
- government employees (for example, Customs, quarantine and migration officers).
Most people working at international airports in Australia with access to restricted areas require a security clearance and wear a card indicating they have been security cleared. These cards are known as Aviation Security Identification Cards (ASIC). However currently, not all employees of retail businesses located in places covered by a notice made under subsection 234AA(3) (restricted areas), within an international airport, are required to have an ASIC.
The presence of these people in the restricted area can potentially pose a threat to the integrity and security of the border, depending on whether they are of good character. Such workers have previously been detected acting in concert with passengers to smuggle and import prohibited goods into Australia.
New section 213A relates to people who work in restricted areas (restricted area employees). New subsection 213A(7) defines the term restricted area employee to mean a person whose duties include working in an area covered by a notice under subsection 234AA(3), but does not include a person who is issued with a security identification card. A security identification card is a card of a kind prescribed in the regulations. Information about the holders of security identification cards will be dealt with in new section 213B.
New subsection 213A(1) provides that a person who employs or engages a restricted area employee must, within 7 days after doing so, provide to an authorised officer the required identity information in respect of the employee. Subsection 213A(7) defines required identity information, in relation to a person, as the following:
- 1.
- the name and address of the person;
- 2.
- the persons date and place of birth;
- 3.
- any other information prescribed by the regulations.
New subsection 213A(1) only applies where a person is employed or engaged after the commencement of these provisions.
New subsection 213A(2) contains the same reporting requirements in respect of a person employed or engaged after the commencement of this section who later becomes a restricted area employee. This would cover, for example, a person who is employed by a duty free business (after the commencement of these provisions) which has shops within the restricted area and elsewhere. If the employee commenced work at a shop that was not in the restricted area but some time after employment or engagement moved to the shop within the restricted area, the employer would have to provide required identity information about that employee within 7 days of that employee commencing to work in the restricted area.
New subsection 213A(3) allows an authorised officer to request the employer of a restricted area employee (who was employed or engaged before the commencement of these provisions) to provide required identity information about that employee. That request can only be made if the authorised officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the employee has committed, or is likely to commit, an offence against a law of the Commonwealth. That request must be made in writing and the information must be supplied within 7 days of the employer receiving the request. The employer must comply with the request.
The employer must provide the information in writing or in such other form as the CEO determines in writing (new subsection 213A(4) refers).
New subsections 213A(5) and (6) make it a strict liability offence for a person to fail to comply with new subsections 213A(1), (2) or (3). The offence is punishable on conviction by a maximum penalty of 30 penalty units.
New subsection 213B relates to persons who are issued or reissued with a security identification card (known as an ASIC).
As explained above most people working at international airports in Australia with access to restricted areas require a security clearance and wear a card indicating they have been security cleared. Under the Air Navigation Regulations employers are authorised to issue such cards to their employees.
Each person who applies for an ASIC must provide basic personal information - name, address, place and date of birth - as well as consent to have a Police Record Check conducted.
New subsection 231B will require the issuers of ASICs to provide certain information to Customs.
If a person issues or reissues a security identification card to another person (the card holder) in respect of an airport appointed under section 15 of the Customs Act, that person must provide to an authorised officer the required identity information about the ASIC holder. That information must be provided within 7 days after the card was issued (new subsection 213B(1) refers). This provision is not limited to those persons who are employed within the restricted area.
Required identity information and security identification card have the same meanings as given by new section 213A (new subsection 213B(4) refers).
New subsection 213B(2) provides that if a card holder was issued with an ASIC prior to the commencement of these provisions and an authorised officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the card holder has committed, or is likely to commit, an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, the authorised officer may request the person who issued the card to provide required identity information in respect of the card holder. The information must be supplied within 7 days of the card issuer receiving the request and the issuer must comply with the request.
The issuer must provide the information in writing or in such other form as the CEO determines in writing (new subsection 213B(3) refers).