Trade security: The tech disconnect threatening Australian ports

IF YOU'VE ever been involved in importation, you know the Australian border runs on paperwork. But this week the Australian Border Force (ABF) dropped a bombshell in announcing that they had uncovered the widespread use of counterfeit permits to bring vehicles into Australia, identifying hundreds of suspicious imports and issuing more than $74,000 in fines.

This therefore isn't just a story about forged permits.  It exposes a massive gap in how our border security systems talk to each other.

Take vehicle imports. The approvals are handled by a federal department that industry veterans like me still refer to as DOTARS (now the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts – and isn’t that a mouthful). To bring a car into Australia, you apply through their online ROVER portal. It looks modern, but a dangerous tech disconnect exists when that car is imported into Australia.

To see where the wheels fall off, you need to consider how customs brokers lodge import declarations for goods being imported into Australia. The process uses a (very old) IT portal run by the ABF called the Integrated Cargo System (ICS). When a broker lodges an import declaration, they type in the permit number from the documents they have been provided. Here is the catch: the system doesn't treat every department equally.

For vehicle permits, verification is surprisingly old-school. A broker types in a number string, and the system pretty much takes their word for it. Unless ABF calls for documents to be submitted on lodgement of the import declaration or physically inspects the vehicle, a high-quality fake permit can slide right through. Criminals have figured this out, creating convincing digital forgeries that may look perfect but are not valid.

Compare that with how the ABF handles environmental or biosecurity frameworks. Look at how things operate under the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) or Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). When a customs broker flags certain tariff codes for say biosecurity permits or ozone equipment licenses, or Product Emissions Standards—specifically for new non-road spark-ignition engines (19 kW or less) or marine propulsion engines—the ICS instantly runs a mandatory verification of the permit number. You cannot just type in a dummy text string and hope for the best.

The moment a broker lodges the import declaration on these or biosecurity declarations, the ABF's system performs an instantaneous digital handshake with the respective agency's live database. Within milliseconds, an algorithm checks the permit or certification number as valid. It verifies everything: Is this a real permit? Does it match the importer's business number? Is it still in date?

If a detail doesn’t match, the clearance is withheld. No one can move that shipping container off the wharf until its sorted. In this process, a fake permit is completely useless because delivery will not be obtained.

The ABF article this week shows that imported vehicle permits do not get that same level of smart gatekeeping. Because there isn't a live, automated check between the Department of Infrastructure's ROVER database and the ABF's ICS, the system can't flag a fake number on its own. With millions of items arriving at Australian ports every year, relying on customs brokers alone to manually catch these smart digital fakes is a losing battle.

Fixing this loophole doesn't require rewriting any laws; it just requires smart IT work. For years, trade experts have championed a "Single Window for International Trade"—a proposed single gateway system designed to streamline how goods enter Australia. Instead of brokers navigating a web of disconnected systems, this single gateway would act as a universal gateway where every department feeds into one centralised, secure dashboard.

The moment a vehicle permit is typed into this gateway, it would face an automatic, instant triple-match check—just like a DAFF or DCCEEW clearance—verifying the permit number, the vehicle's unique VIN, and the importer's identity simultaneously. 
Separate government departments operating in isolated digital silos will always be targeted by organized crime looking to dump unsafe or stolen goods onto Australian roads. Until relevant government departments are digitally linked to ABF systems through this unified single gateway, a fake permit and a PDF editor leave opportunities for fraud.