Security shambles at ports revealed

as posted here

NICK MCKENZIE
September 9, 2009
CONVICTED criminals who pose a terrorist or organised-crime risk are free to work on Australia's ports due to gaping holes in the nation's maritime security, according to a report commissioned by the Federal Government.

The damning Office of Transport Security report reveals that the central plank of Australia's post-September 11 waterfront security scheme has failed to meet its core goal: to keep criminals convicted of terrorism-related offences away from the nation's maritime sites.

The report will embarrass the Rudd Government as it is the latest in a string of confidential briefings and inquiries sent to at least two cabinet ministers, Anthony Albanese and Brendan O'Connor, exposing the parlous state of national infrastructure and transport security.

The 75-page report examines the Maritime Security Identity Card, or MSIC, scheme, which was introduced in 2003 and requires maritime industry workers to undergo criminal background screening and an ASIO assessment in order to access wharves and offshore facilities.

But the OTS report reveals that the scheme is failing because it does not detect or act on "a range of offences and behaviours that are known to have linkages with terrorist activity and the unlawful interferences with maritime transport and offshore facilities".

The offences going undetected include those relating to possessing explosives, theft, significant weapons violations, racketeering, blackmail, corruption, bribery and "offences relating to the death of another human - be it by assassination or murder".

The report, obtained by The Age under FOI laws, was completed last August, eight months after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his first national security statement and vowed to ramp up the fight against terrorism and organised crime.

A departmental source said the Government had known of the glaring problems with the MSIC scheme for more than a year, but had failed to act because of union opposition to any toughening of background screening - a key recommendation of the OTS report.

The report says the existing threats to Australia's maritime sector include terrorists using improvised explosive devices, small arms or larger weapons, as well as organised criminals trafficking in arms and drugs.

"Criminal elements already engaged in the above unlawful activities can be potentially recruited, co-opted or tricked into facilitating terrorist planning."

But it says a ''major gap'' exists in the security regime because ''a great many offences that are related to terrorist and related activity are not captured'' and criminality that does not result in a jail sentence is ignored. The report concludes that the maritime security card regime ''does not adequately reflect the stated policy objectives - particularly when one takes into account the potential use of trusted insiders and the threat of criminal infiltration by organised crime groups".

''The potential exists for some serious criminal convictions to be overlooked by assessors," it says.

The report reveals that the nation's wharves are further exposed because the existing security regime ignores the vast body of criminal intelligence held by the Australian Crime Commission, even though the ACC has said that such ''relevant intelligence is available''.



The OTS report, conducted by consulting firm GHD, also reveals that a serious criminal offence committed by a maritime worker after he has been issued with an MSIC card would not be detected by the scheme for several years. It also states that ''material is not cross-referenced and applicant files are archived after a short period of time''.

Details of the report were sent around late July to the Transport Minister, Mr Albanese, who was criticised earlier this week over claims he failed to act while an opposition MP in 2006, when a customs official leaked to him details about major holes in airport security.

The Age revealed in June that Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor was being briefed on a separate report by the Australian Crime Commission that found that organised crime syndicates had an entrenched presence at some major wharves and airports and were exploiting gaps in security.

The OTS' scathing assessment of maritime security reveals fresh details from the ACC's still-secret findings.

''According to the ACC, checking of a typical cohort of employees at any port would be expected to return a criminal intelligence trace at a rate of approximately 3 per cent of the sample group. The majority of these would be of minor importance but some would indicate multiple and ongoing behaviours and activities,'' the OTS report states.

While the report acknowledges the increasingly recognised nexus between organised crime and terrorism, it also reveals that ASIO is yet to issue a single adverse security assessment of a wharf worker.

''Although ASIO may provide a negative or qualified security assessment, which would likely lead to a refusal to issue, it is understood that this has never occurred in respect of an MSIC applicant,'' it says.

The report calls for an overhaul of the maritime security scheme, including a carefully considered broadening of the number and types of offences for which a worker can be denied a security pass and consideration of how criminal intelligence can be used. It flags that such changes are likely to stir fierce debate from unions and employers. ''Certainly the maritime sector will have strong views upon the matter.''

Figures provided recently by the Department of Transport reveal that, since October, about 20 per cent of the 12,552 maritime workers who have applied for a security card had a criminal record, but only 41 of those were denied a card.

A still-secret review of the Aviation Security Identity Card system earlier this year also recommended sweeping changes. The review found that workers convicted of serious criminal offences had been granted passes to work in security-sensitive areas.

as posted here