David Stone: Borderless Tasman still far away

: Pre-clearance would see checks done in New Zealand, rather than waiting until arrival in Australia. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A common border for Australia and New Zealand - with travel between the two countries treated as domestic, as in Europe - has again been mooted. But as welcome as that would be, there are too many obstacles for it to happen any time soon.

So attention has shifted to the simpler procedure of pre-clearance, under which travellers would undergo all customs, immigration, biosecurity and physical security checks before departure across the Tasman, and then enter freely on arrival. But this will also require negotiating through a minefield.

The possibility of a common border was raised again last month in an enthusiastic press report from Sydney, timed on the eve of Jetstar's announcement that it would enter the New Zealand domestic market in June.

Along with other airlines, Jetstar is critical of having to incorporate customs and biosecurity charges in its fares, whereas in New Zealand these costs are met by government.

A domestic Tasman would remove the need for such charges. Jetstar's raising of this issue, together with rather loose language from Australian Customs on talks with their New Zealand counterparts, led to media speculation, including predictions of fares being reduced by up to 30 per cent.

However, the airline initiative on simplifying transtasman travel was taken two years ago by Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe, who told this writer he thought the arrangements for air travel between Canada and the US should be applied here (The Business Herald, February 19, 2007). Travellers crossing the border by air from major Canadian cities pass through the formalities of both countries at the departing airport, then arrive without formality at a domestic terminal in the US. Fyfe would no doubt have discussed this issue with John Key, leading to the Prime Minister raising it with his Australian counterpart, Kevin Rudd, at their recent meeting in Sydney.

Key told reporters there he was unhappy with the conclusion of the Australia-New Zealand Leadership Group that it would take until 2015 to achieve a common border. Rudd said the two Prime Ministers had decided to try to get an agreement on an easier pathway between the countries within the year. "If we can't," he said, "we'll explain to you why."

Key did not think the barriers were insurmountable and referred to the Canada-US arrangements. Furthermore, to achieve focus on the issue, the Prime Ministers had "elevated" it to their own departments.

This should at least mean that the various government departments and agencies involved - Customs, Immigration, Agriculture, Transport and the Aviation Security Service - will be pressed to answer the questions "Why?" and "Why not?" by officials with no particular bailiwick to protect.

They will learn quickly, however, that the Canada-US arrangements are one-way. While passengers departing from Canada pass through US border controls at Canadian airports, there are no reciprocal arrangements at US airports for Canada-bound travellers.

Nevertheless, the possibility of a reciprocal process for the Tasman was examined by officials in the 1990s when a common border was considered, having been proposed by the Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. They rejected the Canadian model because of the costs involved in enlarging the terminals at all Australian and New Zealand international airports to provide the space required for customs and biosecurity clearance at departure, as well as the cost to each country of having to locate officials in the other.

The officials therefore looked at electronic pre-clearance, so passenger information could be exchanged at check-in, but they concluded that the resulting extra time needed at departure would not be compensated for by time saved on arrival.

Recent advances may make electronic processing more practical, a first step having been taken with the Australian "SmartGate" already available to New Zealand passport holders travelling on some transtasman routes from Auckland. However, SmartGate, using biometric technology, deals only with immigration - none of the other border issues.

The security concerns of recent years were not a vital consideration in the 1990s, and there was no real attempt to look into biosecurity issues either. Nor, with regard to a common border, did officials get past their different immigration regimes.

The dialogue fizzled out following the Australian Government's decision in October 1994 to renege on the agreement for a single aviation market that was due to come into effect the following week.

Financial considerations aside, biosecurity and immigration remain significant obstacles today. In particular, whereas New Zealand has visa-free arrangements with 57 countries, Australia requires a visa from all visitors except New Zealand passport-holders.

This virtually rules out the possibility of a common border for third-country nationals such as exists for the 22 European countries that are party to the Schengen Agreement and Convention (1995-99) that removed all border controls between them.

David Stone, an independent aviation writer and consultant, headed the International Air Services Section, Ministry of Transport, in the 1990s.