Australian Border Force Commissioner says north Queensland border is not ‘unpoliced, porous’

IT’S rugged, sparsely populated and often cited as a hotbed of illicit activity due to its proximity to PNG, but the Australian Border Force says there are many eyes fixed on north Queensland’s land border.

The Australian Border Force Commissioner says north Queensland’s border is a “well-policed stretch of land and sea”. Picture: Marc McCormack

AUSTRALIA’S top border official has debunked the myth that north Queensland’s land border is a soft target for transnational drug running and people smuggling.

The northern border is often cited as a hotbed of illicit activity because of its proximity to Papua New Guinea and the high volume of vessels crossing the Torres Strait.

But Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said there was no evidence that criminals operated freely in the sparsely populated and rugged region.

Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg.

“It’s a well-policed stretch of land and sea and I would debunk the myth that it is unpoliced and porous,” he said.

Mr Quaedvlieg pointed to a heavy presence of border force vessels and aircraft policing the region and a network of spotters who regularly passed intelligence about suspicious activity.

“The problem faced by any of our regional neighbours is that they can be a stepping stone into Australia, a staging point if you will,” he said.

“So we put a lot of effort into securing our back door across the Pacific and to the north, not just in PNG but also with partners in Indonesia and Timor Leste.”

He said commercial flights from Port Moresby to Cairns were a more likely route for drug importers.

“They’re not necessarily huge amounts that are body packed, taped or internally concealed,” he said.

“But, even under that methodology, it’s not inconceivable to get up to 6kg into the country. That can have a good profit margin if you can get it into one of the major metropolitan cities from Cairns.”

Australian authorities have also been encouraged by signs that PNG is considering tightening its lax drug laws where precursor chemicals used in the production of amphetamines are legal. Australian officials have pressured their PNG counterparts to modernise their drug laws.

Mr Quaedvlieg said Australia also had to stay ahead of drug makers as small changes in chemical elements could mean the difference between a substance detected at the border being illegal or legal.

“Every time a crime syndicate changes the chemical structure of a drug and takes it outside of a regulated commodity we need to play catch-up and re-regulate it. The trick is to create science-neutral laws that enable you to deal with issues as they change and not force you to play catch up.”