Immigration minister Scott Morrison has announced a new internal taskforce designed to seek out corruption within Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) will be introduced in order to tighten security on Australia’s borders.
The implementation of Task Force Pharos follows a number of measures announced by the ABPCS Chief Executive Officer earlier this year, each designed to harden the services defence against corruption and serious misconduct, such as the creation of a Special Integrity Adviser role and reforms of the services’ integrity and professional standards function.
‘This internal task force will identify officers or groups who pose significant risk to the service as a result of their on-duty or off-duty behaviour, their associations outside the workplace, or their involvement in criminal activities,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘It will also significantly enhance the service’s internal integrity intelligence capability by targeting hard to detect corruption and serious misconduct in cases where officers actively seek to conceal matters which may make their continued work as an ACBPS officer untenable.’
Mr Morrison went on to affirm his confidence in the vast majority of ACBPS officers, saying they have nothing to fear from this new taskforce.