The Australian Customs Service was an

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

agency responsible for Australian border protection, duties and taxes between 1985 and 2009. The Service was first under the portfolio of the

Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce The Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce was an Australian government department that existed between December 1984 and March 1993. History The Department was created by the Hawke Government in December 1984, a substantial ...

from 1985 to 1998 and then the Attorney-General's Department from 1998 to 2009. In 1998, the collection of Excise duties was transferred to the

Australian Taxation Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuati ...

. The Service was dismantled in 2009 and replaced with the newly augmented, retasked and renamed

Australian Customs and Border Protection Service The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was an Australian federal government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border and facilitating the movement of legitimate international travelers and g ...

which moved from AGD to the newly established

Department of Immigration and Border Protection The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) was a department of the Government of Australia that was responsible for immigration, citizenship and border control (including visa issuance). It has now been subsumed into the Departm ...

in September 2013.

History

The Australian Customs Service was created as an independent authority by the Hawke Government in 1985 under the Commonwealth ''Customs Administration Act 1985'' after operating as a departmental entity from 1982 to 1985 within the

and as the

Department of Business and Consumer Affairs The Department of Business and Consumer Affairs was an Australian government department that existed between December 1975 and May 1982. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be f ...

Bureau of Customs from 1975 to 1982. In December 2008 then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

announced that the Australian Government would be augmenting, re-tasking and renaming the Australian Customs Service to create the new Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. Royal assent was given to the changes on 22 May 2009 and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was established.

Role and functions

The role of the Australian Customs Service was to prevent the illegal movement of people and harmful goods across Australia's border, and to apply trade measures and collect border-related duties and taxes.

Structure

Customs was an

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

agency, staffed by officials who were responsible to the agency's Minister. The responsible minister was the

Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2007 to 2009, the

Minister for Justice and Customs The Minister for Justice was a portfolio in the Australian government between 18 September 1987, when the post was held by Michael Tate, and 20 December 2017, when the last incumbent of the office was Michael Keenan. Keenan was appointed to the p ...

from 1998 to 2007, and the

Attorney-General of Australia The Attorney-GeneralThe title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other attorneys-general, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Aust ...

between 1998 and 2007. Between 1 January 2006 and 22 May 2009, the Chief Executive Officer of the agency was

Michael Carmody Michael Joseph Carmody is a retired senior Australian public servant. He was the Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia from January 1993 to 31 December 2005 and the chief executive officer of the Australian Customs and Bord ...

. Lionel Woodward was Chief Executive Officer between 1994 and 2005. Frank Kelly was Comptroller-General of Customs (and head of the agency) between 1988 and 1994. Prior to Kelly, Tom Hayes headed the agency from its establishment to 1988.

References

{{Authority control Customs services 1985 establishments in Australia 2009 disestablishments in Australia Government agencies established in 1985 Foreign trade of Australia Defunct Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia