A long-sought digital traveller declaration system being trialled by Qantas and the Australian Border Force will be expanded to other airlines and cruise ships under an iterative, user focused approach.
The commitment to user testing and a staged roll out comes after Accenture failed to deliver a digital passenger declarations in 2022 for the surge of post pandemic travel, scuppering the wider government tech platform it was to run on.
InnovationAus.com understands the heavy lifting on technology for the upcoming trial is being done by Qantas and can connect with existing Home Affairs platforms. But the Australian Border Force (ABF) is planning to eventually incorporate a new website built by Home Affairs.
The ABF last week announced the trial for later this year which will see trans-Tasman travellers flying on select Qantas able to complete passenger declarations through the airline’s app up to 72 hours prior to arrival.
It aims to streamline declarations and digitise data for immigration, customs and biosecurity checks, which could lay the groundwork for the ABF’s long held ambition of a tech heavy border system.
Users that complete the digital form will receive a digital pass through the app and to their nominated email, which will include a QR code that needs to be shown to ABF officials on arrival.
The ABF currently has around 5,500 Border Force officers to manage Australia’s airports, seaports, the customs service and act as the coast guard for 33,000km of coastline.
“The volume and speed of travel and trade over the next decade is going to exponentially increase,” outgoing ABF Commissioner Michael Outram told InnovationAus.com earlier this year.
“Industry in particular want more predictability in their supply chains and certainty in border arrangements. With that volume increase, I can’t possibly expect the government to give me a commensurate increase in the number of officers I’ve got. They can’t afford it, [so] it’s not going to happen.”
Commissioner Outram co-chairs the current Trans-Tasman Seamless Travel Group established last year that led to the new pilot.
The last attempt at digital passenger cards was abandoned after scathing reviews and teething issues when Australia’s border reopened in 20222. The app had been the first use case of a ‘Permissions Capability’ that was planned to be used across government.
The wider platform being built by Accenture was abandoned weeks later, with Accenture’s contract terminated and some of the software licences salvaged by Home Affairs.
The failure is front of mind for the new project which is being developed in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and will engage travelers on the Qantas app rather than a government one.
“The Department of Home Affairs recognises the benefits to working with industry, including leveraging their expertise in customer experience, technology and passenger communication,” an ABF spokesperson told InnovationAus.com.
No contracts have been awarded yet, with the pilot being developed on existing Home Affairs platforms. Some may follow, pending the results of the pilot that is expected to launch between October and December.
The pilot does not have a set period and is expected to expand to other airlines after the initial test with Qantas passengers arriving from New Zealand. InnovationAus.com understands the ABF is also preparing an expansion to cruise ship travellers.
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