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Surface Transport Security

Unlike the aviation and maritime industries, where security regulation is the primary responsibility of the Australian Government, surface transport security, including rail, light rail, buses, and passenger ferries, is the responsibility of the state or territory in which the service is located.

The Australian Government's role is to work with state and territory governments to develop a consistent and coordinated approach to surface transport security. This role, and the roles of the states and territories, is set out in the Intergovernmental Agreement on Surface Transport Security (IGA), which was finalised in 2005. It is available at http://www.coag.gov.au/intergov_agreements/docs/transport_security.rtf

The IGA guides the priorities and work program of a group involving transport security officials from all Australian jurisdictions. This group ultimately reports to the Transport Ministers' Council, the Australian Transport Council (ATC).

Two recent developments have contributed to the work program for this group. Firstly, following the July 2005 bombings in London, on 27 September 2005 a special meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) discussed mass passenger surface transport security issues and made a number of recommendations. The outcomes of this meeting are available at http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2005-09-27/index.cfm

One of the results of the September 2005 COAG meeting was the development of a National Code of Practice for closed circuit television (CCTV) systems for counter-terrorism purposes in the mass passenger transport sector.

The Code is not mandatory and is designed to guide possible future investments in CCTV. The Code supplements other guidance material, the application of which is determined by each jurisdiction's transport security risk assessments and legislation.

The Code describes the desired attributes of CCTV systems in the transport sector for improving counter-terrorism arrangements across the spectrum of preparedness, prevention, response, investigation and recovery, in line with the National Counter Terrorism Plan. The code can be found at http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2006-07-14/docs/cctv_code_practice.rtf

The implementation of the COAG recommendations are largely complete or are in progress and ongoing in nature.
The second recent development that has contributed to the work program is an assessment of surface transport security in Australia. In November 2005 the ATC asked the Inspector of Transport Security to conduct an assessment of surface transport security in response to discussions at the COAG meeting in September 2005. The Inspector finalised the report in November 2006.

Transport Ministers met on 28 February 2007 to discuss the Inspector's Surface Transport Security Assessment. The assessment found that Australia's transport security strategies and practices are of world standard. This is not reason for complacency, however, and counter-terrorism measures require on-going and continuous review, assessment and improvement. The communiqué from the Minister's meeting is available at: http://www.atcouncil.gov.au/communique/atc25.aspx

The assessment includes a range of recommendations for development and implementation. The two main areas for further work in the transport area are in relation to providing security training to staff of transport operators and security planning.

The Australian Government continues to work with the state and territory governments to improve the security of Australia's surface transport systems.

Transport Security Working Group

This website provides information for members of the Transport Security Working Group. Please note that access to this website is restricted and requires a password.

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