In 2018, the Commonwealth Auditor-General found the ABF’s support of the Cape-class patrol boat largely ineffective. Photo: ANAO.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has requested that Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster intervene in the Australian Border Force’s (ABF) mismanagement of the National Marine Unit (NMU).
In a joint investigation between 60 Minutes, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, journalist Nick McKenzie found the ABF’s operations were being severely impeded by faulty equipment.
Among the issues – which the CPSU claims to have “repeatedly” raised with the ABF – were contaminated drinking water, mould, broken ventilation systems, major fire risks, actual fires, faulty safety equipment, and vessel rollovers and the ongoing risk of more.
CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly said the ABF had not only failed to address these “egregious” failures aboard NMU vessels, but also “proactively locked them out” of workplace health and safety (WHS) discussions.
“The CPSU should immediately be permitted to participate in the Marine Workplace Health and Safety Committee, which we have so far been denied access to,” Ms Donnelly said.
“Then there needs to be serious and substantial change in the way ABF manages the Marine Unit.
“Business as usual isn’t an option for ABF anymore. This is why I have written to the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, requesting she step in and protect our members.”
Aside from inclusion in the Marine WHS committee, which the CPSU already participates in across the Department of Home Affairs, Ms Donnelly outlined three key issues in her letter.
“In order for these workers to safely and sustainably do the job they are being asked to do, both now and into the future, things must urgently change,” she said.
“There is no workplace planning, no recruitment or retention strategies, and they aren’t adequately upskilling their current workforce to address current or emerging skills shortages.
“On matters of outsourcing and workplace health and safety, there is no doubt in my mind that the introduction of a profit motive into the maintenance of Cape-class vessels has compromised these vessels and the safety of the mariners aboard them.”
In response to the investigation, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the government was committed to giving border protection personnel the support and resources they needed.
“As the ABF Commissioner has said, his organisation has never been better resourced,” Minister O’Neil said. “We inherited significant issues across border protection and migration when we came to government.
“These included an offshore detention system which was funnelling money into international crime, and a migration system which was broken, required a decade-long rebuild and was facilitating mass exploitation.
“We are doing the difficult work of getting those systems back on track.”
The core responsibility of the NMU is Operation Sovereign Borders. Its mission is to deny settlement in Australia for any irregular maritime arrivals and to deter potential irregular immigrants from attempting dangerous journeys to Australia by sea.
Responding to the investigation’s claims it was failing due to these ongoing WHS issues, the ABF said the operation’s integrity remained intact and there had been no successful illegal ventures for more than 10 years.
“The safety and wellbeing of the Australian Border Force workforce is our highest priority,” read the ABF’s statement. “The ABF continues to focus on recruiting qualified, ongoing APS staff, which supports the strategic priority of building a well-trained maritime workforce.
“The ABF has in place a robust Safety Management System (SMS). Any system issue which presents as an intolerable safety risk is eliminated through redesign or mitigated through engineering and/or procedural controls.”
Earlier this month, the ABF apologised to its staff for failing to “prevent workplace misconduct from occurring” after two Australian Human Rights Commission reports found systemic issues of sexual discrimination and harassment.
These reports were “proactively commissioned” by Commissioner Michael Outram in April 2022, and have had all 42 recommendations accepted by the ABF.
