SmartGate is an automated border processing system being introduced by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and New Zealand Customs Service. It is a secure and simple system that performs the customs and immigration checks normally made by a Customs Officer when a traveller arrives in either Australia or New Zealand. At present, passengers aged 18 or above using an Australian or New Zealand ePassport are able to use the technology in both countries, with the exception of New Zealand ePassport holders travelling on military orders when arriving in and departing from Australia.
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Smartgate takes a live image of a travellers face, and using facial recognition technology, will match this image with the digitised image stored in their ePassport. Smartgate will also undertake immigration and customs checks. If there is a successful match, the traveller will be cleared through the Customs control point. If there is not a successful match, they will be referred to a Customs officer.
According to a report on the Seven Network, "The system compares your passport photo with digital images taken by three cameras, noting such things as your bone structure, length of your nose, and the distance between your eyes." [1]
There are plans to expand the scheme in the future to holders of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) compliant ePassports from countries other than Australia and New Zealand.
Trials of the SmartGate system in conjunction with the biometric passport technology were expanded in late 2004 from use with Qantas air-crew (which began in 2002), to include over 1,000 Qantas platinum frequent flyers. Passengers are to be photographed and their details added to the SmartGate database within 24 hours, according to an e-mail sent to prospective users.
Critics, however, are claiming that the facial-recognition technology is not accurate enough for the use of national security tasks. According to an article by ZDNet Australia, "Problems in introducing biometric identifiers to Australian passports means Australian citizens visiting the United States will be fingerprinted and photographed under that country's anti-terrorism measures." [2]
Brisbane was the first Australian international airport to deploy Customs Smartgate system on an operational basis in September 2007. It is now available at other international airports nationally.
In New Zealand, SmartGates are available at Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington international airports for eligible arriving passengers and at two gates at Auckland international airport for eligible departing passengers.[3]
On 20 August 2009, announcements were made to expand the Smartgate system to New Zealand. This announcement, made by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on an official visit to Australia, was part of an agreement struck between himself and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in an effort to allow Trans-Tasman travellers to "transit through the entire [customs] process within eight minutes"[4] to further free up the already liberal travel arrangements between the two nations.