Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 1:49:07 to 1:53:06
ABF officials provide details on Operation Athena and the detection of undeclared firearms, distinguishing between criminal smuggling and administrative permit errors.
Topics: Firearms, Public safety
Speakers: Speaker 18, Hon Bridget McKenzie, Hon Jonathon Duniam, Stephanie Foster, Speaker 1
Um, Senator, in relation to those activities, um, the charges are normally worked through from state and territory and federal policing agencies in terms of next steps, especially around uh, activities like the week of action with operation Athena. Um, those activities are led by, for example, this year Victoria Police as the lead agency and ABF's role in that is to provide referrals or intelligence referrals into the week of action where uh, uh, activities undertaken. So outcomes from those in terms of the number of prosecutions is is a uh in partnership with policing agencies moving forward.
>> But do they do they report back to you? So you can sort of say KPI met or
>> uh we certainly do in terms of statistics in the number of um warrant activities, the number of goods seized as you've as you managed to um cover off on just then the number of prohibited items that have been detected through the border and then intelligence leading to the next steps where police will take the prosecution action.
So on notice then maybe speaking with your state um and federal um police forces. I'd like to understand how many of the detections resulted in criminal charges or prosecutions. How many were resolved through administrative action including the provision of additional import permits or documentation? And how does the ABF distinguish between deliberate attempts to illegally import firearms and legitimate consignments um that are delayed because of changes to import permits, certification requirements or administrative errors? And what safeguards exist to prevent lawful businesses um being unnecessarily penalized?
Senator, um to your point, the ABF's role, um and certainly our expertise is to fundamentally prevent the illicit firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, etc. from entering Australia. So, we turn what we detect at the border into intelligence and enforcement opportunities that we work with our partners. Certainly from an ABF perspective, uh trained officers uh are trained to identify when there are false declarations where goods are misdescribed and tried to to be uh smuggled through the border. Um as opposed to legitimate declarations where firearm porters are openly declaring what the goods are and potentially may not have hit the threshold in terms of what the permit requirements are and it is a pivot point for us. So um as with my title, Assistant Commissioner of Compliance and Enforcement, um a large proportion of my division is focused on the compliance activity where importers will enter the uh into the import system with the information that they have >> and our teams within the AVF will work with the importers to validate that information and make sure that they've uh addressed all of the necessary requirements. So, uh, to answer your question, um, our officers are skilled to identify when there are people that are legitimately trying to import goods as opposed to those who are trying to illicitly import them.
>> Uh, Mr. Smith, my understanding is there might sometimes be a mixup of that expertise or mislication. Can you on notice please um, break down for me the number of accidental identifications? um as elicit, which ended up being just uh legitimate law-abiding businesses um trying to work through the changes uh to permit um administration, etc. Do it. >> Thank you. Thank you, chair.
>> Thank you, Senator McKenzie.
>> Chair, I've just had help from a friend at home.
>> Thank you, friends at home,
>> who tell me that it was actually 37, not
>> Would hate you to have to come.
>> We'd like to be able to phone a friend. Uh, Senator Duniam.
>> Uh, thank you very much. I wanted to go back to the illicit tobacco commissioner