The Governance of Security in Australia's Maritime Domain

The structures for managing the policing of Australias maritime zones have been changed frequently since the 1970s in response to political crises. All responses avoided creation of a dedicated agency to undertake the task but none of the cooperative arrangements that emerged have been sufficiently robust to respond satisfactorily to the next crisis. The current arrangements under the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service have not prevented instances of poor performance, lax financial management and unclear responsibility. This article argues that these are inherent structural weaknesses of the current approach to maritime security and that it is time to establish a dedicated agency to perform the task.