Australian Immigration Daily News

The Australian Border Force (Secrecy and Disclosure) Rule 2025 remakes and updates the 2015 Rule, which was due to sunset on 1 October 2025, to ensure continuity of lawful disclosure of Immigration and Border Protection (IBP) information under the Australian Border Force Act 2015.

The Rule:

• Retains existing provisions allowing disclosure of IBP information for the detection of persons who may pose risks to Australia or foreign countries, and for the investigation of misconduct or integrity issues.

• Prescribes four new permitted purposes for disclosure:

  1. Matters under the Australian Trade and Investment Commission Act 1985 (Austrade Act).

  2. Trade and supply chain regulation, including mapping and understanding risks to supply chains critical to the national interest.

  3. Matters under the Export Control Act 2020, Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012, and Imported Food Control Act 1992.

  4. Matters under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Hazardous Waste Act 1989, Ozone Protection Act 1989, Product Emissions Standards Act 2017, and Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020.

The Rule retains ten prescribed bodies permitted to receive IBP information, including the Australian Red Cross Society (for humanitarian oversight) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and its state/territory branches (for animal trade and welfare matters).

The Rule interacts with the Privacy Act 1988, ensuring that disclosures are lawful, necessary, reasonable, and proportionate. Although it permits the sharing of personal information, safeguards are in place to limit intrusions into privacy and ensure compliance with Australia’s human rights obligations under the ICCPR (Article 17 - right to privacy).

Commencement: The Rule takes effect the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Repeal: The 2015 Rule is repealed in full upon commencement of the 2025 Rule.

Conclusion:
The Rule strengthens the Australian Border Force’s operational capacity by modernising the framework for sharing IBP information, supporting border protection, national security, trade integrity, supply chain resilience, and environmental protection, while maintaining proportional safeguards for privacy and accountability.

Source: Australian-Border-Force-secrecy-and-disclosure-rule-2025.pdf and 

Australian-Border-Force-secrecy-and-disclosure-rule-2025-explanatory-memorandum.pdf