Major airports sounding alarm over passport queues, claims Australia is falling behind

EXCLUSIVE: Airports around the country are warning our border technology is falling behind, leaving passengers stranded and tourists with a bad impression. 7NEWS can reveal the next stage in the plan to make arriving home easier, but some claim it is still taking too long.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The dreaded crush arriving home for international travelers at most airports,
it's often in the morning, but likely to get worse
without urgent upgrades. Eventually get rid of.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
These well, and this is what we want, the seamless process,
so everything's done through biometrics.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
SmartGate technology is often patchy and always clunky with a
two step Kiosk system. We're in the process of upgrading, but.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's not happening quickly enough. The rest of the world
has overtaken us in this area.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Singapore is considered gold standard in passport free travel using biometrics.
No surprise, it's near the top in a people's choice
Skytrack's award for the best Airports for immigration.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Once upon a time, Australia was a world leader in
this space of border technology. Now we're not even in
the top ten.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Last year, our top five airports welcomed forty one million
international passengers, nine percent up on the previous year. Airports
worry without more federal funding, border force agents could be overwhelmed.
As we head towards the Brisbane Olympics, the whole.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
System will fall in on itself, and at a time
when the eyes of the world will be upon us.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Every passenger departing Australia is charged seventy dollars. It's built
into your airfare, but less than half of that now
goes back into what was designed to do, and that's
fund aviation infrastructure. Seven News can exclusively reveal a trial
of getting rid of incoming passenger cards is being expanded
to Sydney Airport.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
After all, the world's coming to Australia in twenty thirty two,
we need to be ready for it.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Blake Johnson is seven News