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25 July 2007
- News Briefs
- Stronger Border Control
- CBRN Data Centre opened
- Airspace regulation
- UK head cams
- New section of the OHP
- APEC Customs-Business Dialogue
- ACT FireLink scrapped
- 457 visa under scrutiny
- Diplomatic customs screening
- SIM card regulations
- Publications
- Defence update 2007
- Australia-Japan Relations
- New Advice on IT Security for Owners and Operators of Critical Infrastructure
- Computer Network Vulnerability Assessment Program
- Events
- 2007 National Security and Defence Election Series - Part 2: The Coalition
- Frontline Responder to Terrorism (Protecting Soft Targets) Course
- Terrorist Red Teaming and Predictive Profiling
- Safeguarding Australia 2007: The 6th Homeland Security Summit & Exposition
- 2007 GITA Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference
- Terrorism Update
- International Conference on Counter Terrorism 2007
- US Defence Trade Controls Seminar
A new border control system will come into operation in September, the Prime Minister has announced.
The new system will include many technological improvements including higher quality data matching, advanced analysis of personal details for all travellers to Australia, increased connectivity between the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and ASIO, and other measures to speed up security requirements.
This will enable authorities to match movement and financial data with associations a person may have overseas to determine if they may be a security threat to Australia.
The Australian Federal Police’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Data Centre was opened in Canberra on July 2.
The Centre was created as a result of a COAG resolution in September 2005 and $19 million committed in the 2005-06 Federal budget.
It is complemented by two laboratories including a MobiLab and an Evidence Recovery Triage Laboratory.
The Centre will be staffed by AFP technical and scientific experts.
New airspace legislation which transfers regulatory function from Airservices to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority have come in to affect as of the 1 July.
The Airspace Act 2007 can be read here.
The Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport is also inquiring into Aviation Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007 which will provide for the introduction of a mandatory drug and alcohol regime, and prohibit disruptions to operations of a security controlled airport or aircraft.
The committee will report by the 30 July. Submissions closed on the 11 July.
UK head cams
The British Home Office announced £3million to fund a national roll-out of advanced head cameras.
The cameras are designed to be worn by police officers to provide thorough evidence which shows events as the officer sees them.
A trial of the Body Worn Digital Recording System has been operating since 2005.
The trial has shown the head cameras has shown an 8% decrease in violent crime, an 18% reduction in wounding, a 20% increase in converting violent incident into crime, an 85% increase in the number of violent crimes resulting in arrest, and a 40% increase in the number of detected violent crimes.
The interim report into the Plymouth trial can be read here.
The Office of Health Protection is setting up a new section under its Health Emergency Management and Biosecurity Branch.
The Biological Regulaton Section will implement the recommendations of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Review of Hazardous Biological Materials.
Applications for positions in the new section closed on July 19.
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3 & 4 October 2007, Hotel Realm, Canberra. Details |
Minister for Justice and Customs Senator David Johnston announced new Australian Customs initiatives at the APEC Customs-Business Dialogue on June 29.
Among the initiatives is the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) pilot program. This program will test a system provided by the World Customs Organisation whereby companies involved in trade are encouraged to conform to a security accreditation system and become AEOs.
Similar systems have been adopted by the USA and European Union, and New Zealand is currently investigating an export only based program.
The pilot program is being participated in by five trading companies including Foster’s, Murray Goulburn, Fonterra, IBM Australia and Australian Meat Holdings.
In theory, companies who seek accreditation will have to maintain strict security standards, but once accredited will experience reduced impact in the event of an incident that would affect the supply chain.
Additionally, customs is currently investigating a new model for sea cargo reporting which would require shipping companies to report details of their cargo before it is loaded onto ships in a foreign port. This may speed Customs clearance for low risk cargo.
New service arrangements have also been put in place to reduce the impact of changes to cargo status for cargo owners to improve the certainty of cargo availability.
The ACT Government has decided to cancel its contract for the FireLink satellite communications system with two years still to run, fundamentally writing off the $4.5 million already spent on the project.
The ACT Opposition is calling for an inquiry into the acquisition of FireLink amid reports that the system never worked and cheaper improvements were available.
“This has been a frightful waste of money on top of the other ESA multi million dollar blowouts, and a frightful waste of time when our men and women should have been given a reliable communications system in the bushfire season following the 2003 disaster,” Emergency Services spokesman Steve Pratt said.
Australia’s 457 temporary visa has come under attack following the arrest of Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef in connection with the failed terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom earlier this month.
The 457 visa scheme allows employers in Australia to employ overseas workers for a period of three months to four years, and places no restrictions on how many times the employee can enter or leave Australia in that period.
The visa is known as a ‘quick visa’ and has been a major tool in addressing Australia’s skilled workers shortage.
“Something like 50 per cent of rural doctors in Queensland are actually international medical graduates, and certainly, there would be three to 5,000 international medical graduates working on temporary visas across Australia right now,” Australian Medical Association President Dr Rosanna Capolingua said.
“There's a long history of insufficient numbers of medical graduates and restriction on doctors in this country which has left us with a depletion in workforce in light of increasing need.”
Concerns have been raised that should screening measures for the 457 visa be increased, the fast nature of the visa would be compromised, having negative implications on Australian businesses. Also, increased security would do nothing to stop potential terrorists with clean records.
A plan to allow diplomats and celebrities lenient treatment when they pass through customs has been criticised by Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan.
Senator Heffernan said that no one must enter Australia without stringent quarantine and security screening.
Australia is a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations but has not yet enacted appropriate laws.
The Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS) has proposed that certain diplomats and celebrities receive “appropriate dignity” and not be subjected to the same screening as most people.
“Some of the world's greatest rogues are the world's greatest VIPs,” Senator Heffernan told a Senate inquiry into aviation.
DOTARS deputy secretary Andrew Tongue defended the proposal.
“We have international obligations and the Act wasn't reflecting that,” he said.
“Even if they're a rogue, they still have particular privileges and immunities under our law.”
Australia’s obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations can be read here.
A 100-point identity check for SIM card registrations has been called for by Police Commissioners.
The security of SIM cards was discussed at a Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission concerned with the future impact of serious and organised crime on Australian society, last month.
NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney supported the instigation of a 100-point check prior to buying a mobile phone SIM card.
According to the Manager of Intelligence at the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission, Elizabeth Foulger, SIM cards are used in organised crime as they can be registered under pseudonyms and one caller can have a variety of cards which they switch to avoid tracing.
"There are also a number of significant organised crime people with links to the providers of mobile phones, so they are able to get phones using legitimate details,” Ms Foulger said.
"Someone else has connected a phone through that provider, so the organised crime figure is able to come in and use exactly the same details to connect a phone and then continue to use that phone for their purposes.”
The use of multiple SIM cards is widespread, according to the Director of Intelligence at the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission, Christopher Keen.
“In every successful operation that we have had over the last five years, we have had people using SIM cards with false names,” Mr Keen said.
“It is a theme that I think is across Australia.”
Lack of billing in technology is an increasing concern for authorities as prepaid Voice-over-internet protocol becomes more popular in organised crime due to the difficulties in tracing.
“You just pay your $50 up front and, therefore, they no longer need billing records,” Mr Keen said.
Transcripts of the Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission are available here.
Attorney-General speaks at ASIAL conference
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock spoke at the Australian Security Industry Associated Ltd (ASIAL) Security 2007 Conference on July 11.
Prime Minister John Howard has released a major review of Australia’s national security entitled Australia’s National Security: A Defence Update 2007.
A copy of the Defence update is available here.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has released a new Strategic Insights publication entitled Australia-Japan relations: New directions.
The paper was written by Associate Professor Aurelia George Mulgan from UNSW@ADFA. It seeks to address the renewed importance and perceptions of the bilateral relationship between Japan and Australia.
“The reality is that Australia needs Japan less economically than in previous years because of the growing importance of the Chinese market,” Mr Mulgan said.
“The centre of gravity in the relationship is shifting away from economics and trade and more towards political and security affairs to produce a more “balanced” relationship.”
A copy of the paper is available here.
Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Senator Coonan has released two papers to assist owners and operators of critical infrastructure.
Managing IT Security When Outsourcing to an IT Service Provider is available here.
Secure Your Information: Secure Your Business is available here.
Applications for the seventh round of the Computer Network Vulnerability Assessment (CNVA) Program are open this July.
The program is a Government grants scheme designed to help secure critical infrastructure.
The CNVA fact sheet is available here.
An application form for the program is available here.
E-security national agenda
The Australian Homeland Security Research Centre has released its National Security Briefing Notes in relation to the Australian Government’s revised E-security National Agenda.
The Briefing Notes address the three key priorities of the agenda which include reducing the e-security risk to Australia’s national critical infrastructure, reducing the e-security risk to Australian Government information and communication systems, and enhancing the protection of home users and SMEs from electronic attacks and fraud.
A copy of the Briefing Notes is available here.
The Australian Homeland Security Research Centre will host Part 2 of its National Security and Defence and Election Series, with Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock speaking on the 2nd August.
The event will commence at 12pm at the Australian Institute of International Affairs Conference Centre, 32 Thesiger Crt, Deakin.
The brochure is available here.
Booking details are available here.
AntiCrime International will hold the Frontline Responder to Terrorism (Protecting Soft Targets) Course in Brisbane on 7-8 August and in Canberra on 28-29 August.
The course is endorsed by the US Department of Homeland Security and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Modules covered in the two-day course include:
- Terrorism Awareness
- Australia's Homeland Security Role
- Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Improvised Explosive Devices
- Terrorist Planning Cycle
- Suspicious Items Indicators
- Incident Scene Management
- Security Teamwork
- Soft Target Assets and Vulnerabilities
The course is offered at a cost of $825 and participants will receive a certificate upon successful course completion.
Further information is available here.
Chameleon Associates are hosting the Terrorist Red Teaming and Predictive Profiling seminar in Sydney on the 27 & 28 August.
The seminar will educate security professionals on how to enhance security programs by proactively identifying criminal or terrorist operations in the planning, surveillance, and rehearsal stages. Attendees will learn how to cost effectively design, articulate, and implement better threat mitigation processes and procedures.
The seminar is offered at a cost of $950 (plus GST).
Further information is available here.
Safeguarding Australia 2007: The 6th Homeland Security Summit & Exposition will be held at Hotel Realm in Canberra on the 3 & 4 of October.
The event is supported by UNSW@ADFA, the University of Melbourne, the Queensland University of Technology, and the Australian Homeland Security Research Centre.
This year the event focuses on evolving threats, consequences and implications from a host of threats including:
- International and domestic terrorism
- Climate change security challenges
- Pandemic and biological threats
- Chemical and radiological threats
- Espionage
- Demographics security challenges
Further information is available here.
RNSA Security Technology Conference 2007
The 3rd Annual Research Network for a Secure Australia (RNSA) Security Technology Conference will be held in Melbourne on the 28th September, preceded by a dinner on the 27th September.
The conference aims to bring together the security community with industry and researchers to develop mutual understanding on needs, research and outcomes, as well as building substantive contacts across areas.
Registration details can be found here.
The 2007 Geospatial Information and Technology Association’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference will be held in Brisbane on the 6-8 August.
The conference will be held in conjunction with the 2007 GITA GIS in Oil, Gas & Mining Conference and a variety of workshops.
The brochure is available here.
The update will look at developments in a number of areas including:
- Chlorine IED’s
- Liquid Explosives
- What we have learnt from recent and foiled attacks
- Terrorist interest in CBRN
The presenter, Professor Clive Williams, has just spent five weeks working in the UK and three weeks working in the US. He will provide an update on new UK measures to combat terrorism, as well as the “fixated” security threat.
John McFarlane, Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre & Visiting Fellow at UNSW@ADFA will also be presenting on ‘Developing links between terrorism and crime’.
The brochure is available here .
Booking details are available here.
International Conference on Counter Terrorism 2007
The International Conference on Counter Terrorism 2007: Counter-Terrorism Policing and Culturally Diverse Communities will be held in Melbourne on 15-16 October.
The brochure is available here.
More information is available at www.ctic2007.com
Roland L. Trope will speak at a public seminar entitled US Defence Trade Controls: Sticky Issues for Allies at the Australian National University National Europe Centre on the 26th July from 12.30pm-2pm.
The seminar will focus on the details of the United States’ International Traffic in Arms Regulations and explain the rationale for the US controls.
Mr Trope is a partner at Trope and Schramm LLP in New York City and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
The seminar is free to the public.
Enquiries should be directed to Dr Stefan Markowski at UNSW@ADFA on (02) 6268 8094
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