‘Huge gaps’: Border warning over lack of drones patrolling Aussie coastline

Defence experts, Coalition want more drones to guard Australia’s vast northern borders to protect against people smugglers.

Defence experts and the Coalition have honed in on a lack of drones being used to survey the coast off Australia’s northwest, saying a new government contract to aerially survey the border doesn’t stipulate purchasing new unmanned systems in a move which could present “huge gaps” to people smugglers.

The issue of border security was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this month when four illegal foreign fishing boats reached a remote part of the Western Australian coastline, with defence expert Michael Shoebridge, director of Strategic Analysis Australia, saying current aircraft used for aerial monitoring was leaving the borders exposed.

“It’s a huge gap. The whole of the rest of the world … is routinely using drones for all kinds of purposes,” he said.

“There’s a massive wilful blindness … about taking advantage of cheap, unmanned aerial surveillance. That’s going to become a bigger problem because the Navy is running out of ships and using expensive aircraft (for aerial surveillance).”

The latest Department of Home Affairs annual report revealed surveillance hours undertaken by aircraft had dropped by 14.24 per cent over 2022-2023 compared to the year before, with 12,691 hours completed.

A Ukrainian drone operator lands a drone after a surveillance flight in the Donetsk Region of Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images)

That was done from 16,010 hours in 2020-2021, the last full year of a Coalition Government.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke previously said the drop in hours was due to a “single contractor”.

“This was influenced by under-resourced aircrews and difficulties operating in remote offshore areas, resulting in increased aircraft maintenance requirements that, in turn, affected aircrew availability,” the report stated, with Mr Shoebridge saying that gap should be covered by more drones.

“I just think they’re living in the past, and just as a taxpayer, the sheer economics of it makes me think – if you’re not putting cheap drone surveillance into these contracts you’re not protecting the Australian taxpayer or Australia’s borders,” he said.

Shadow home affairs spokesman, Senator James Paterson, added the Albanese Government “should be exploring drones to plug the holes in surveillance that have opened up on their watch”.

“The Albanese government’s failure to deliver adequate aerial surveillance and maritime patrols means people smugglers are slipping through our nation’s defences and breaching our borders,” he said.

“Tony Burke must urgently fix this before more boats turn up on our shores.”

An Australian Border Force spokesman said it would “not go into specifics about capability assessments and requirements” and that the ABF “is constantly reviewing its capabilities, to ensure they remain fit for purpose”.

The Government previously put $123.8 million over two years from 2023–24 towards the ABF’s on-water response and aerial surveillance capabilities, as well as funding to protect borders and biosecurity from illegal fishing activities.