Loopholes within Loopholes

Australia was at risk because the permit system allowing foreign vessels on the coast was open to fraud, The Australian newspaper reported in June. (18/6/05).

An audit by consultancy group KPMG for the Department of Transport last year found that permits had been issued without checks on the applicant's bona fides and that some ships could have lodged fraudulent documents. In some cases permits had been issued without signatures on the application forms.

"The department risks granting a permit based on a bogus or unauthorised application," the report warned.

KPMG found the department consistently failed to meet its own laws and ministerial guidelines on permits.

DOTARS issued 1000 coastal shipping permits, licences and amendments per year, generating annual revenue of $300,000 to dry bulk carriers, oil, chemical and LPG tankers.

Human errors were put down to the high turnover of staff and insufficient resources.

The review was undertaken before the responsibility for granting permits was transferred to the Office of Transport Security in 2004.

The Australian also interviewed a senior fellow in maritime security at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Dr Sam Bateman, who warned Canberra was ignoring the risks posed by foreign flagged and crewed vessels.

"The crews of these ships and the ships themselves therefore, cannot only pose a security threat but also an environmental threat," Dr Bateman said. "These ships pose a heightened security risk particularly when compared with Australian crewed and flagged vessels."

The government denied that Australia had been put at risk.

Meanwhile, Lloyds List reports a 'bin laden effect' in the neighbourhood, with the Malacca Strait and waters south of the Philippines now declared a war risk zone.

Security firm Aegis Defence Services quote the alleged interest of Osama bin Laden followers in shipping traffic in the Malacca Strait as underpinning its recommendation to declare a risk.