justice

This page considers the scope and scale of Australian offences and security registers.

It covers -

• introduction -
• convictions registration
• sex offender registers
• fingerprint databases
• DNA databases
• 'child worker' identification schemes
• security vetting
• maritime and air services cards

     introduction

As with other nations, Australia employs a wide range of registration schemes regarding people who have committed crimes (particularly those punished by imprisonment), who work in 'sensitive' positions, such as in childcare organisations, schools or airports or merely have sought access to particular substances such as ammonium nitrate.

Changing perceptions of risk and threat mean that employment in many mundane government positions requires some form of vetting, for example to see whether a person has been charged with an offence or merely has affiliations and other attributes that are considered to pose concerns.

In aggregate that information now covers a substantial part of the workforce. It is not held in a central register or maintained by a single agency (or even by a single government) but much of the data is electronic and there is potential for wide-spread sharing among agencies and with non-government bodies. Much of that sharing is unremarked; some would appear to have substantial (albeit problematical) support from the community at large because of beliefs regarding 'stranger danger' and terrorism.

    convictions

The federal and state/territory spent conviction regimes are broadly similar, providing for expungement of many juvenile convictions and offences punished with under six months prison sentences (subject to a crime-free period).

There is no specific spent convictions legislation in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. In New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia legislation provides that most offenders do not need to disclose the conviction - and the public records are sealed - after a specific period of time. Some discrimination is also prohibited.

More detailed information about the different 'spent convictions' regimes is featured elsewhere on this site.

    sex offenders

Exclusions to the spent convictions regimes reflect major crimes, notably those involving children, with law reform bodies grappling with concerns regarding employment of sex offenders (evident in suggestions for strengthening of the NSW Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998 and proposals in Victoria for photo ID and registration under that state's Working With Children law).

Australian regimes for the registration of sex offenders have developed from state/territory criminal conviction recording arrangements. There is considerable variation across the jurisdictions and, as of 2005, no 'community notification' schemes.

The Federal government CrimTrac agency operates a National Child Sex Offender System, including notification of overseas peers when convicted paedophiles report an intention to leave Australia, but it does not monitor movement of individual offenders within a state/territory as that is the responsibility of the respective Government.

A non-public register of child sex offenders was for example established in New South Wales in 2001 under the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 and in Queensland in 1989 under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1945.

Australian and overseas police and community notification schemes are explored in more detail elsewhere on this site.

    fingerprints

Law enforcement agencies have moved towards sharing of biometric databases that encompass information from people who have been arrested and those who have merely undergone probity checks for particular positions.

The Australian AFIS database contains around 2.6 million fingerprint records from individual State and Territory Police Agencies, including what are claimed to be records from all people arrested since 1941 and records from a range of official probity checks (eg police applicants for appointment as a police officer).

    security vetting

Security vetting by/for government agencies is discussed in more detail here.

Given the size of the public sector (and turnover of personnel within that sector) it is unsurprising that a large number of checks are undertaken each year. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) for example indicated that in 2005-6 it conducted 135,000 personnel security checks "in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games, in the aviation and maritime sectors and for people seeking access to ammonium nitrate". It also conducted 53,147 visa security assessments.

     Maritime and air services cards

In 2004 the federal government announced establishment of maritime and air services safety cards (characterisation later changed to security identification cards) with the expectation that all workers in maritime and aviation 'security zones' would be appropriately vetted and identified. The two sets of cards are meant to provide nationally consistent identification that shows the holder has met minimum security requirements to remain unmonitored within the relevant security zone. Applicants for a card must undergo background checking conducted through the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and Department of Immigration & Multicultural Affairs (DIMA).

The Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC), established under the federal Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act 2003 (MTOFSA) and consistent with the International Ship & Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), covers port and port service workers, stevedores, transport operators such as train and truck drivers, seafarers on Australian regulated ships and people who work on and/or supply offshore oil and gas facilities. It is expected that there will be some 75,000 cards in use by early 2007.

The Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 (ATSA) extended the existing Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) scheme to most airports. Anyone who works in the airside area or landside security zone of an airport with an ASIC scheme - for example baggage handlers and check-in staff - must wear the card. Cards are issued by an approved issuing body, such as operators of security controlled airports and airlines.

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