Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection has announced an overhaul to its identity verification systems for international airports, which is intended to almost entirely replace physical passports with biometric recognition.
Due to start in 2017 and be fully implemented by 2020 in what the department is calling a ‘world-first’, the system will involve a combination of iris, face and fingerprint scanning, as well as a series of electronic stations rather than manned desks, in order to automatically handle 90% of international travellers. This tech will replace the existing SmartGates, which have been in place for less than a decade.
This component of the so-called ‘Seamless Traveller’ initiative , which was first announced in 2015, will make use of our “ability to harness the power of big data”, according to Fairfax Media’s interview with Dr John Coyne , head of border security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
