Border protection role mooted for Ballina coastguard
Posted
Federal Attorney-General Robert McLelland says Ballina's coastguard could play a role in border protection.
Mr McLelland has visited the centre this week to discuss a range of issues, including volunteers, marine radio communications and procedures to warn ships at sea in the event of a tsunami.
He says another function of the coastguard is that of surveillance.
Mr McLelland says there must be better lines of communication between the organisation and Customs.
"The volunteer coastguard network is the eyes and ears around our coastline and I'm sure that there's more that can be done interacting their input to the Customs network if there's anything untoward and any suspicious drop-offs of packages or indeed people," he said.
"Just working out some communication protocols could be a useful supplement to our border protection regime."
