Mtb Chapter2

Chapter 2 Regulating Entry and Departure • In 2004-05, around 20.7 million air passengers and 1.2 million aircrew personnel arrived and departed compared with around 18.6 million air passengers and 1.1 million aircrew arrivals and departures in 2003-04. • There were about 340,000 arrivals by sea (both crew and passengers) in 2004-05; a rise of 2 per cent compared to 2003-04 when around 333,000 arrived. Over the same period, total departures increased from around 323,000 to around 337,000, a 4 per cent increase.

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There were around 5.5 million visaed arrivals in 2004-05, compared to around 4.2 million Australian citizens and around 1.3 million New Zealand citizens.

• The United Kingdom (around 929,000) was the largest source of visaed air arrivals to Australia in 2004-05, followed by Japan (around 728,000) and the United States of America (around 466,000). • Sydney continues to be Australia’s busiest airport with about 44 per cent of all movements into and out of Australia in 2004-05, followed by Melbourne (about 21 per cent) and Brisbane (about 17 per cent). • In 2004-05, around 3 million people arrived in Australia on an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA), up approximately 3 per cent on the 2.9 million arrivals in 2003-04. Most (84 per cent) were issued by travel agents, but there was continued growth in Internet ETA (11 per cent). Some 5 per cent were issued at DIMIA overseas offices. • Total movements (ie. arrivals and departures) across the Torres Strait increased from 49,959 in 2003-04, to 52,270 in 2004-05. Traditional inhabitants comprised 98 per cent of such movements.

Streamlining the Entry of Approved Travellers The Department uses leading edge technology to deliver a secure immigration processing system which is as non-intrusive as possible for genuine travellers. It works closely with the Australian Customs Service (ACS) to provide a streamlined immigration clearance process. A key element of our secure and streamlined border processing is the capacity to pre-check passengers before they travel to Australia using the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system. The APP system provides a double benefit to Australia by preventing inadequately documented passengers from entering Australia and by increasing the efficiency of incoming passenger processing at Australian borders. See Chapter 1 for further information on APP.

Electronic Travel Authority Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

The Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) is the world’s most advanced and streamlined travel authorising system. Introduced in 1996, it was developed to increase the access of low-risk departmental clients to efficient visa services. The ETA replaces paper visas in passports and removes the need for application forms. However, clients are still checked against all immigration warning lists and APP processing at the check-in counter ensures that border integrity is not compromised. The ETA links the Department with over 300,000 travel agents and 75 airlines around the world. Passport holders from 34 countries, locations and regions can obtain authority to enter Australia at the same time as they book their travel. Almost 99 per cent of ETAeligible passport holders apply for ETAs in order to travel to Australia for tourism or short-term business purposes Visitor arrivals to Australia increased by around 5 per cent in 200405. This reverses the steady decline in visitor arrivals that began in 2000-01, and which was caused primarily by the events of 11 September 2001, and the SARS epidemic. ETA arrivals accounted for 81 per cent of total visitor arrivals. In 2004-05, approximately 3 million people arrived in Australia on ETAs, up around 3.per cent from the approximately 2.9 million arrivals in 2003-04. Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

The number of non-ETA visitors also increased in 2004-05. In 2004-05, 723,000 people arrived as non-ETA visitors, up 6 per cent from the 679,000 arrivals in 2003-04. ETAs currently account for approximately 83 per cent of all tourist and short-term business visas issued worldwide. In 2004-05, most ETAs (around 84 per cent) were issued by travel agents; however, there was continued growth in the uptake of Internet ETA. ETAs have been available on the Internet since May 2001. In 2004-05, approximately 11 per cent of all ETA arrivals obtained their ETA via the Internet, compared to 9 per cent a year earlier. The Internet ETA take-up rate is expected to increase as clients become more familiar with the system over time. About 5 per cent of ETAs were issued by DIMIA officers at Australian missions overseas through the IRIS system in 2004-05.

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Monitoring the Movement of People Air Arrivals and Departures The vast majority of people arrive in Australia by air, with only a very small number, mostly the crew of commercial ships, arriving by sea. Air arrivals include Australian citizens returning from overseas holidays or time abroad, migrants, tourists, business visitors, temporary residents, people on working holidays, overseas students and diplomats, as well as the crew of international airlines. In 2004-05, around 20.7 million passengers and 1.2 million aircrew personnel arrived and departed compared with around 18.6 million passengers and 1.1 million aircrew arrivals and departures in 200304. This represents an increase of 12 per cent in passenger numbers and reflects international passenger trends.

Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

In 2004-05 there were around 10.4 million passenger air arrivals, 12 per cent more than in 2003-04, when around 9.3 million people arrived. Over the same period, air passenger departures increased 11 per cent from around 9.3 million to around 10.3 million.

Sea Arrivals and Departures

Source Data: Intercept, ACS and MR, DIMIA

Each year, around 650,000 people travel to and from Australia by sea. This excludes overseas military and naval personnel arriving on visiting naval ships. The majority (about 90 per cent) are the crew members of visiting commercial ships, such as container vessels and bulk cargo ships. Crew members include those who are staying with the vessel while it works in Australian waters and those who are joining or leaving the vessel in Australia. Crew arrivals and departures in 2004-05 and 2003-04 were around 600,000 compared with around 573,000 crew arrivals and departures in 2002-03. The lack of growth in 2004-05 compared to 2003-04, was due in part to an almost 50 per cent reduction in crew arrivals and departures on cruise ships. Less than 10 per cent of sea arrivals and departures are passengers, mostly arriving on cruise ships as transit passengers or for short-term tourism purposes, with much smaller numbers arriving as passengers on commercial and other ships. In 2004-05, approximately 61,200 passengers arrived and departed compared with around 56,400 in 2003-04. In 2004-05, 106 cruise ships were recorded by the Australian Customs Service as arriving in Australia. These include international arrivals and round trip cruises (i.e ships that depart from Australia for trips around the Pacific before returning to Australia). There were about 340,000 arrivals (both crew and passengers) in 2004-05, a rise of 2 per cent compared to 2003-04 when around 333,000 arrived. Over the same period, total departures increased from around 323,000 to around 336,000, a 4 per cent increase.

Source Data: Intercept, ACS

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Main Ports of Entry and Departure Sydney Airport is Australia’s busiest airport, with around 4.9 million arrivals and 5 million departures in 2004-05 or about 44per cent of total movements into and out of Australia. Melbourne Airport was the next busiest port with around 2.31 million arrivals and 2.24 million departures (around 21 per cent of all movements), followed by Brisbane Airport with around 1.9 million arrivals and 1.85 million departures (around 17 per cent) and Perth Airport with around 1.1 million arrivals and 1 million departures (around 9.6 per cent). Together, these four ports accounted for about 91 per cent of all movements into and out of Australia in 2004-05. Figure 2.7 shows arrivals by sea of passengers and crew on noncommercial vessels. These figures exclude arrivals of those crew members who are not leaving or joining the ship in Australia. In terms of arrivals by sea, Sydney and Hobart were the main ports of arrival in 2004-05, Sydney accounting for around 28 per cent and Hobart around 24 per cent of all sea arrivals. Other major ports of arrival included Brisbane (around 9 per cent), Darwin (around 7 per cent), Fremantle (around 5 per cent), Broome (around 4 per cent), Cairns and Melbourne (around 3 per cent each), Dampier (around 2 per cent), and Townsville (around 2.per cent)

Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

Arrivals by Category of Traveller Air and sea arrivals may be categorised as either Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens or visaed arrivals. The latter are mostly the holders of temporary visas such as tourists and overseas students but also include former migrants to Australia who have not taken out Australian citizenship. Visiting members of ships’ crews who are not leaving or joining the ship in Australia are however not counted as visaed arrivals and are not included in these figures. These people are deemed to be the holder of a Special Purpose Visa for the duration of the time they are on authorised shore leave. New Zealand citizens who hold a valid New Zealand passport do not need to obtain a visa before travelling to Australia, unless there are health or character concerns. On arrival in Australia, New Zealand citizens who present a valid New Zealand passport and a completed passenger card are automatically granted a Special Category Visa (SCV) which is recorded electronically. The SCV is denoted in the New Zealand passport with an arrival date stamp.

Source Data: MR, DIMIA

In 2004-05, there were around 5.5 million visaed arrivals, compared to around 4.2 million Australian citizen arrivals and around 1.3 million New Zealand citizen arrivals. The number of arrivals across all three categories declined in 2001-02 and 2002-03 compared to 2000-01, but increased steadily in 2003-04 and 2004-05. The category of traveller most affected was Australian citizens where there were around 4.2 million Australian citizen arrivals in 2004-05 compared to 3.5 million in 2003-04(20 per cent increase). This trend is probably due to expatriate Australians returning to Australia due to global security concerns.

Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

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Visaed Arrivals by Citizenship The United Kingdom (UK) was the largest source country for visaed passeneger arrivals (both air and sea) to Australia in 2004-05, with around 929,000 arrivals, followed by Japan with around 728,000 arrivals, the United States of America (USA) with around 466,000, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with around 346,000 and the Republic of South Korea (ROK) with around 271,000 arrivals. The UK, Japan and the USA have retained their respective positions in the top 10 countries of citizenship for arrivals over the five years since 1999-00. Of the top 10 countries of citizenship for arrivals in 2004-05, all registered an increase compared to the previous year with the exception of Indonesia, with the largest increases in arrivals from PRC (up about 26 per cent), Singapore (up about 15 per cent) and the ROK (up about 14 per cent).

Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

Source Data: Intercept, ACS

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More than 90 per cent of arrivals by sea are the members of ships’ crews, mostly those of commercial vessels. Figure 2.10 shows the number of commercial vessel crew arrivals by country or territory of citizenship. These figures exclude those crew members who are leaving or joining the ship in Australia. The majority of commercial vessel crew in 2004-05 were from the Philippines (around 39 per cent), followed by the PRC (around 13 per cent) and India (around 9 per cent). Australian citizens accounted for only about 3 per cent of ships’ crew.

Torres Strait Movements Torres Strait, a 150-kilometre wide passage between Cape York and the south-west coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), includes 150 islands of which 18 are inhabited. Thirteen of these are in the Torres Strait Protected Zone. Under the Torres Strait Treaty, Australia is obliged not to prevent or hinder free movement of inhabitants for activities in or near the zone. Traditional inhabitants living in the zone or adjacent coastal areas are citizens of Australia or PNG and maintain customary activities for their livelihood, or social, cultural and religious activities. Traditional activities under the Treaty include activities on land (such as gardening, food collection and hunting), activities on water (such as fishing for food), ceremonies or social gatherings (such as marriages) and traditional trade. Business dealings and employment for money are not recognised as traditional activities under the Treaty. Torres Strait Islanders are allowed to travel north into PNG as far as the 9 degrees South latitude line just north of Daru. They are also allowed to visit Parama Island and the villages of Sui and Sewerimabu. Coastal people from PNG are allowed to travel south into Australia as far as the 10 degrees 30 minutes South latitude line near Number One Reef.

Source Data: Torres Strait MMO Reports

The Department protects the integrity of migration arrangements in terms of the treaty. As at 30 June 2005, it had employed 27 Movement Monitoring Officers (MMOs) who are based on the inhabited islands. They work with island councillors and others to manage traditional movements and report on other movements, including those of unlawful non-citizens. They play an important role in border control by weekly reports of arrivals and departures. MMOs have often been responsible for spotting unauthorised boat arrivals in the region. DIMIA also has four full-time officers based on Thursday Island. The Department’s Thursday Island office provides a full range of immigration services including visa issue, citizenship and residency applications, and manages the traditional flow of people in the Torres Strait. As well, it manages issues arising from the Torres Strait Treaty. Immigration officers make regular visits to the islands in the Torres Strait and they participate in Treaty discussions. Managing the Treaty requires considerable cooperation between a range of Commonwealth agencies. Other agencies with a presence in the Torres Strait include the Australian Customs Service, Australian Federal Police, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence, Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Centrelink, Australia Post and the Department of Education, Science and Training.

Source Data: Torres Strait MMO Reports

Total movements (ie. arrivals and departures) across the Torres Strait included 50,978 traditional and 1,292 non-traditional movements for 2004-05 compared to 49,053 and 906 respectively in 2003-04 (4.6 per cent increase). The fall of around 7 per cent in 2003-04 compared to 2002-03 was due to some Torres Strait island communities declining to accept traditional PNG visitors due to fresh water shortages and health concerns. PNG traditional inhabitants comprise about 98 per cent of all movements. 17