In response to today’s report - Daily Telegraph: another jihadist passport bungle 15.8.14
Federal Member for Mitchell, Alex Hawke MP, announced the Federal Attorney-General confirmed that a 19 year old Bella Vista man has been charged with one count of improper use or possession of an Australian travel document on Saturday, 9 August 2014.
“As the matter is currently before the court no further comment can be made in regard to this specific matter.
”Incidents such as these underline the need for urgent measures to better identify and prevent people leaving Australia on false travel documents, said Alex Hawke.
The Australian Government announced $630 million of new counter-terrorism measures that will help combat the threat posed by home-grown terrorism and also, discourage or deter Australians from travelling offshore to participate in conflicts.
Some of these measures will decrease the likelihood that people will be able to leave to participate in fighting overseas, including:
- advanced passenger processing for departures which will give authorities more time to conduct risk assessments, and
- expanded implementation of electronic departure gates (e-gates), along with improved use of biometrics, which will address errors in matching people to passports.
“I strongly support these increased measures that will deter people from participating in conflicts and will reduce the incidents of false documents for travel”, Alex Hawke concluded.