‘Clapped out’ frontline against drugs and people smugglers under fire

They’re supposed to be Australia’s frontline in the fight against drug and people smugglers, but this fleet of planes is said to be too old and outdated to keep our border safe.

Home Affairs is under fire for giving a billion-dollar contract extension to monitor the coastline for drug and people smugglers to a company accused of using clapped-out planes and out-of-date technology.

In September, instead of opening the tender to competitors, the department gave specialist aircraft operator Cobham Special Mission an additional six years on the contract it has held since 2006, running maritime surveillance planes described in parliament as old and broken-down.

The decision to give the contract extension, which has now cost the government a total of $2.6bn, came despite a scathing audit report that found that, since 2008, the company has not once flown the number of hours required every year.

Cobham also did not provide enough pilots and other crew to fly the planes, failing to fully complete 25 per cent of missions and aborting a further 11 per cent, the Australian National Audit Office said in a report tabled in Parliament in October.

“The ANAO estimates that Home Affairs may have paid $87 million in monthly service charges for crew numbers that it did not receive,” the ANAO said in the report.

Border authorities detected and turned around this boat with 29 Sri Lankans on board in 2013. Picture: Supplied

Border Force relies on the fleet of 10 planes to provide crucial intelligence to help detect and respond to “civil maritime threats” along Australia’s 34,000km sea border.

However, an ABF spokesperson said that because a variety of intelligence methods were used on the border, it wasn’t possible to single out air surveillance as solely responsible for spotting any of the 895 suspected illegal boats that have been detected since December 2007.

During a parliamentary hearing examining the contract last month, the chair of the public accounts and audit committee, Labor’s Julian Hill, criticised the “pretty old, clapped-out” planes flown by Cobham and said he had spoken to two competitors who were “appalled that they haven’t had a crack at providing a much more competitive bid with much better technology because of the department’s failures in management over many years”.

“Peter Dutton’s incompetence has not only wasted $87 million of taxpayers’ money for surveillance planes that didn’t fly, but has also meant Australia is missing out on the world’s best technology,” Mr Hill told News Corp.

“Despite a shocking audit report, Home Affairs doubled down at the casino, punting another $1 billion to extend this flawed contract for six more years with no competitive process,” he said.

Canada’s PAL Aerospace, which flies surveillance missions for border authorities in its home country and in the Caribbean, said it could supply a newer model Dash-8 aircraft that flies 44% faster and can stay aloft about 22% longer than the older Dash-8s used by Cobham.

A PAL Aerospace De Havilland Dash-8 aeroplane. Picture: PAL Aerospace

PAL also claims its planes are outfitted with newer surveillance systems and software than Cobham’s.

“We have assets today that I can deploy in Australia tomorrow,” PAL’s chief executive for Australasia, Keith Stoodley, said

“I can’t replace all 10 of your aircraft, but I can get started, and these are state-of-the-art aircraft with state-of-the-art mission systems that are proven and used in North America and through the Caribbean and in Europe,” he said.

The parliamentary audit committee is examining the contract after the ANAO found that Home Affairs “set expectations low, by accepting and paying for lesser capability and lesser performance from the commencement of the contract in 2008”.

This contrasted with the “fully effective” management of a similar but smaller contract with the same company entered into by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which took a harder line with Cobham and refused to pay for services it didn’t receive.

The committee is set to grill the Home Affairs secretary, Mike Pezzullo, over the deal next month.

Labor MP Julian Hill. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

“Australia should have a much better deal, and the former government and the department have serious questions to answer,” Mr Hill said.

A spokesman for US defence contractor Leidos, which took over Cobham Special Mission in November, said its Dash-8 fleet “has more than 20 years of service life remaining”.

“The Dash-8 fleet is currently being integrated with the latest surveillance technology.

“Leidos will continue to provide an exceptional service to the ABF that delivers on operational requirements.”

In a submission to the ANAO, Cobham also complained that a draft of the report contained “a range of errors, omissions and misinterpretations”, and said it was disappointed that it wasn’t given an opportunity to provide a more detailed response.

Originally published as ‘Clapped out’ frontline against drugs and people smugglers under fire