Aust. Commission seeks to stop passport abuse

Press, 29 May 1982, Page 22

Aust. Commission seeks to stop passport abuse

NZPA Sydney A Royal Commission has pinpointed tighter passport control as a leading priority in the fight against drug trafficking. “Elimination of passport abuse would deal a crippling blow to the activities of drug traffickers," the Royal Commissioner, Mr Justice Stewart, said in his second interim report, tabled in the Senate and released to the Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland Governments.

“The root,of the abuse is the absence of proper identification checks and it is essential that such checks be introduced and maintained," he said. His Honour recommended that staffing at passport offices be improved and be provided with access to computerised information capable of confirming identity.

This should include access to citizenship records, electoral rolls, and records of births, deaths, marriages, changes of name, and child custody orders. “The interception of persons reported to be engaged in drug trafficking is made almost impossible if the suspected person .can conceal his arrival by producing a false passport,” His Honour said.

“With a succession of different passports, one courier can make many trips with little chance of detection," he said.

The report said that knowledge of how to obtain a passport in a false name was widespread. “Australia spends millions of dollars annually maintaining a. barrier against the passage of criminals, illegal immigrants and illegal goods into and out of the country. That this barrier can be readily passed by criminals with false passports means that Australia is really wasting money,” it said. Other recommendations in the report include:

Personal attendance at interviews by passport applicants. Only one third of applicants attend personally at present.

Transfer of responsibility for passport offices from Foreign Affairs to the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.

That production of a birth certificate alone should not be sufficient proof of identity for a passport. That originals of documents, not photographs or other copies, be required. The repeal of provisions allowing the issue of an Australian passport to British subjects who are ■ not Australian citizens. That travellers whose passports are lost or stolen be issued with a replacement, valid only for the duration of their journey. Cancellation of Australian passports held by persons convicted of offences relating to drug trafficking. The report is also critical of the lack .of liaison between the various Federal and state bodies directly concerned with the handling of passports.

“The result is that the customs primary-line officers are not adequately instructed in the detection of forged and falsified passports. “Little if anything is at present done in the field of liaison with other countries,” the report said.

It recommends the establishment of a statutory passport authority comprising both Federal and state representatives.

The passport committee would have primary responsibility for Australian passports, but would also gather and disseminate in-

formation about the abuse of forged passports and travel documents.

“Although the issuing of passports is a responsibility of the Commonwealth Government, it is obvious that the states are able to contribute to the prevention of passport abuse. “Passport abuse detrimentally affects Australian society as a whole and state agencies such as police forces should be as interested as Commonwealth agencies in preventing it,” said the report.

His Honour said the root of passport abuse in Australia was the birth certificate. “It does not seem difficult for a determined person to obtain a blank form of a birth certificate. It does not appear difficult to forge one. A blank form allows a criminal to select any name he wishes for his passport.” he said. Criminals also took advantage of the absence of identity checks upon persons seeking birth certificates. “They obtain birth certificates of other persons from a State registry of births, deaths and marriages. They then apply for- passports in the names of those other persons, furnishing birth certificates in support but supplying photographs and physical descriptions of the real applicants.” Particulars of addresses, next of kin, and other family details were usually fictitious and certificates forged. “The criminal in this way obtains from the passport office a document which is a genuine Australian passport, although its issue has been obtained by false representations. It cannot be detected on any physical examination as a false passport. “Many drug smugglers who have been detected have a number of such false passports for their own use. “It is impossible to discover how many false passports of this kind are now in circulation," His Honour said.

The report said that Australia had no land borders and could be entered only by ship or aircraft. Heroin traffickers generally preferred air smuggling as they did not like leaving the drug too far from their control. “Australia should more readily than most other countries be able to keep out illegal drugs from overseas.

It is the terminus for most airline flights and has few of the problems of passengers in transit which are common in Europe." The report said a totalitarian regime would have little difficulty assembling a complete dossier on every resident, using modern computer technology. “Revulsion in democracies against such a concept is assisting criminals to harm society by successfully impersonating honest citizens. “It is necessary to strike a balance between the citizen’s right to privacy and society’s right to protect itself,” the report said. Australian police generally have no power to compel a person to disclose facts or answer questions. Other democracies go further than Australia. In Belgium, for example, it is compulsory for any person to identify himself when required by a policeman and he may be taken to a police station for further inquiry if he fails to do so.

“This commission is not suggesting the introduction of any such law in Australia,” the report said. “It is. however, often advantageous to a citizen to be able to prove his identity.”

The commission advocates the introduction of a voluntary system of national identity cards valid for five years and issued by . the department issuing passports. It suggests this would cost considerably less than a passport, and could possibly be adequate for Tasman travel.