CANBERRA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Department of Home Affairs has called for greater use of facial recognition technology at Australian airports.
In a briefing sent to the government following May's general election, which was published by News Corp Australia on Thursday night, the department said it wanted to expand its collection of biometric data, warning that the current immigration system is buckling under pressure.
Under the proposal put forward by Home Affairs, a mega-department consisting of all of Australia's major intelligence agencies, people from 46 countries applying for an Australian visa will have their photo taken and fingertips recorded.
Biometric data would then be checked against data collected by intelligence agencies from Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the U.S.
"Current systems were designed and built to accommodate much smaller volumes and a less sophisticated risk environment," the briefing said.
It warned that Australia was "an increasingly important espionage target for foreign intelligence services."
"Threats to Australia's social cohesion and our nation's security are also posed by those seeking to incite violence," it said.
The brief revealed that the refusal rate for visa applications has risen from 2.5 percent in 2015-16 to 3.3 percent in 2017-18, which the department said was the result of more information about applicants being available.
It predicted that the number of visa application to live, work and spend holiday in Australia will rise from 10 million in 2018-19 to 13 million in 2026.
"Rising volumes of visa applications, changing risk profiles for national security, criminality and fraud risks, complexity of the visa framework and reliance on aged and manual processing systems has created significant pressure on the immigration program," the brief said.
