Australia will struggle to maintain security over its borders without strategic investments and acquisition of new technology, the nation’s border force commissioner says.
In an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Commissioner Michael Outram said the force would be unable to response effectively to future crises unless those investments were made.
“Unless we make phased, strategic investments in our border and acquire technological advances in the coming years, we will struggle to both realise the full economic benefits of greater volumes of trade and travel and simultaneously maintain satisfactory levels of security,” he said.
“If we conceive of our border as a strategic and economic asset, which balances the forces of globalisation and sovereignty, then like any asset its depreciation should be of serious concern.
“Failing to invest in it in the coming years will cost much more in the long run.”
Asked if he believed the agenct was adequately resourced, Mr Outram said it needed to make sure it was getting the most out of its assets, pointing to a 10-year high in funding.
“Some of our challenges are around crew numbers, the ageing nature of the assets, rather than a shortage of money,” he said.
The commissioner said a global shortage of pilots had affected the ability of contractors to conduct surveillance flights.
He said a gap in the border force meant a greater reliance on the military to do the work.
Asked about asylum seeker boat arrivals, Mr Outram said this year there had been 11 vessels and all had been dealt with.
The force put safety of life first, he added, and that attempts were made to return people to the source of their journey or transit country before placing them in offshore detention.
The commissioner also said the amplification of boat arrivals through social and mainstream media platforms could create a “false sense” of a border crisis.
“I think maybe we just have to accept them (the arrivals) as being a consequence of globalisation and have to be able to normalise our preparedness for them,” Mr Outram said.
