‘Make our border a force of business’, says Customs chief Michael Outram
Michael Outram moves to fix Australia’s borders, with cross-border trade facing 200 laws, 145 systems and 29 agencies and duplication costing $431m a year.
Australia’s Customs chief has vowed to overhaul the nation’s borders to boost economic productivity, revealing cross-border business had to navigate its way through 200 regulations and 145 trade systems, overseen by 29 government agencies.
Michael Outram, Commissioner of the Australian Border Force and Comptroller-General of Customs, revealed “too many critical IT systems were dated’’, others were paper-based, and the resulting information duplication was costing Australia $431m a year.
In a hard-hitting speech to an Australia-New Zealand business group, Mr Outram said he was aiming to overhaul Australia’s border to ensure maximum economic advantage for the country.
He said Australia’s “trading across the border” ranking by the World Bank had fallen from 25th in the world in 2010 to 106th by 2020” – a statistic he described as “eye-watering’.’
“Imagine the outcry if our education or health sector dropped 80 places in world rankings or the All Blacks went on a losing streak and New Zealand became a Tier 2 rugby nation – It’s unthinkable,’’ he told the Trans-Tasman Business Circle in Canberra.
Mr Outram, whose contract was recently extended until the end of next year, told the business group “it might surprise you, but I’m not here today to tell you how great the Australian Border Force is”.
“We’re among the best in the world, and I’m incredibly proud of my staff and what we achieve with the resources at our disposal,’’ he said.
“But today I actually want to change the way that you think, and the way that governments think, about international borders.
“Australia’s border is one of its greatest assets, but we’re not making the most of it. I want to bring about reform of the border, and not just piecemeal reform. I want to overhaul the border and make it work for Australia the way I know it can.’’
Mr Outram said Border Force would continue to focus on enforcement and protection at the borders, but added “my job is about more than just security and border protection, it’s also about economic productivity and enhancing the wellbeing of Australians”.
“In other words, the ABF, as stewards of the border, must balance the role of enforcement with the role of driving more trade and better economic outcomes for Australia.’’
Describing the border as a “strategic asset’’ Mr Outram said the border needed to be operating well particularly in times such as the current cost-of-living crisis and tough economic headwinds faced by business.
“So I want to create a broader policy discussion around the border, and the way we look at it,’’ he said.
“There’s an urgent need for border modernisation and investment in the border. I’m talking about financial investment, of course, and plenty of it, but I’m also talking about strategic investment – basically, I want people to think about the border differently, to reframe how we talk about it and how we make significant policy decisions that affect it.’’
Listing both problems and potential solutions, Mr Outram reiterated that Border Force had doubled its “strike rate’’ in detecting illicit drugs crossing the border in recent years, but that wastewater testing “tells us we are still seeing about 75 to 80 per cent of illicit drugs succeeding in getting across the border”.
“In other words, despite the thousands of tonnes per year of drugs we are stopping, even on a good day we’re stopping only about 20 to 25 per cent of them. So we have to do better. We can do better,’’ he said.
“At the same time, we’re going to see an over 70 per cent increase in cargo imports here in Australia over the next 10 years, so the challenges and the logistics will be huge, and they’ll continue to increase.
“Too many of our critical IT systems are dated, and too many of our methods are as well – in a lot of cases, there’s still paper-based documentation for important border processes that should be digital.
“And the regulations are too complex for businesses to thrive, especially small to medium enterprises.’’
Mr Outram said he had been in Brussels two weeks ago for discussions with “like-minded partners’’ on a new contactless screening system for luggage and cargo, which would involve the country of departure sharing X-rays with Australia.
“Imagine boarding an international flight from the US to Australia. At departure in LA your bag is checked in all the way, not just to Sydney, but all the way to Canberra,’’ he explained.
“Border agencies including the ABF would get your baggage X-ray from the US immediately after check-in.
“We would then run our own algorithms over the image and clear the bag pre-arrival, and it could go directly on to a domestic flight. This is not some far-off utopia or pipe dream.
“We’re exploring the same concept with cargo. Think of the benefits of real-time screening as cargo is brought on board ships and aircraft. Time and money would be saved, and we would have a very high degree of confidence around what was originally loaded into a container and its chain of security all the way to the end customer.’’
Mr Outram said Australia’s border was “wearied at the moment’’ but was still a massive economic driver, bringing in $421bn in imports and $400bn in exports, and Border Force was collecting $20bn in revenue.
“It’s estimated that by 2050, migration will be contributing $1.6 trillion to our GDP. The numbers are huge. But if we don’t invest in the border, like any asset, it’s going to depreciate,’’ he said.
“A lot of industry leaders have told me they want to see more money that’s raised at the border spent on modernising the border, and I agree. If we systematically harvest today and reinvest in the future of the border, that’s going to be the key.’’
Mr Outram told The Australian he had “long advocated that the border is one of our greatest national assets but, as a system, it’s not in the greatest shape and we need to be awake to that fact”.
“It’s important that we paint a very realistic picture of the scenario we are facing at the border because we are at a critical point in time here,’’ he said.
“It’s not just about security and border protection but also about economic productivity and enhancing the wellbeing of Australians.
“We have an opportunity to ensure the border maximises our economic prosperity and national resilience, provided we act sooner rather than later.”
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