(Transcript from World News Radio)
The announcement that the federal government is establishing a new border protection agency has received a mixed response from opposition parties and refugee advocate groups.
From July 2015, the Australian Border Force will incorporate the roles of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration Department.
Peggy Giakoumelos takes a closer look at responses to the announcement.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full story)
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced the new agency as part of a series of cost-saving measures due to be unveiled in the federal budget.
Mr Morrison said the changes support recommendations made by the Commission of Audit.
He says the new Australian Border Force will include airport and maritime officers and investigators as well as those responsible for tracking down illegal goods.
The Force will also handle immigration detention and removals.
Opposition Immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the concept of the overhaul seems sensible, but he wants to know more.
"We'd obviously like to see the details of that before we respond in full. We are concerned to make sure that this amalgamation doesn't result in any cuts in jobs. But there is some sense in having one uniform, one badge when people arrive at the border and indeed the work on that idea began under the Labor Government."
Mr Morrison says the agency will remove duplication and result in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings, with funds reinvested back into the agency.
But the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, has told the ABC the establishment of an Australian Border Force is a deliberate move to cut jobs and further marginalise refugees.
"This is a dog whistle by Minister Morrison and Tony Abbott. It's more about cutting jobs in the public service and further demonising refugees. The idea that it's appropriate to put the agency that looks after Australia's borders in terms of drug trafficking and the importation of hand guns in with the same agency that manages immigration, the same department that manages immigration and refugees, is a preposterous idea."
Project SafeCom is a non-for-profit human rights group.
The group's coordinator, Jack Smit, says he's concerned that the assessment of refugees may be compromised under the new Border Protection Force.
"It's fine for him to have the Border Force, but that's got nothing to do with refugees. Refugee assessment, refugee determination does not belong in immigration. It belongs in refugee assessment and those two need to be separate, because there is an inherent, deeply embedded conflict in having immigration authorities assess human rights convention and the eligibility of refugees to be granted status. It's got nothing to do with the border. It should be separated out from immigration."
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