The Wire

Prime Minister John Howard today announced his decision to fast-track a new border control system, giving the Government greater power to carry out background checks on people entering the country. The new system will come into effect this September in time for the APEC summit in Sydney. Behind the tightened measures will be an overarching database to allow authorities to check the travel and behavioural patterns of visa applicants between ASIO and the Department of Immigration, in the hope of detecting possible terrorists. Professor at the Centre for Policing, Intelligence, and Counter Terrorism at Macquaire University, Clive Williams, believes it is a step in the right direction but also one that needs to be handled with care.