Program Overview

LCRM302 - Customs, Border Protection and Biosecurity

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

Human trafficking and the smuggling of narcotics, firearms, dangerous goods, wildlife, and endangered and threatened species are persistent crimes with serious negative social implications. This unit introduces students to key concepts and practices in customs, border protection, and biosecurity. The aim of this unit is to help students develop their knowledge and understanding of customs, border security, and biosecurity and associated skills in identifying, categorizing, and managing associated risks.

Campus Offering

The unit is offered in the following campuses:

• Brisbane: Semester 1, Multi-mode
• Blacktown: Semester 1, Multi-mode
• Melbourne: Semester 1, Multi-mode
• North Sydney: Semester 1, Multi-mode

Prerequisites

• LCRM101 Introduction to Criminology
• LCRM106 Introduction to Criminal Justice System and Policy or LCRM103 Criminal Justice System and Policy

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this unit, students will be able to:

1. Describe border protection risks and the regulatory methods of controlling them
2. Explain how regulation, policy, and border management practices advance social objectives and protect society from harm
3. Apply risk management principles to identify, categorize, and manage border risks

Content

Topics will include:

• History and purpose of customs
• International customs union
• Australian airports: law, policy, and practice
• Australian seaports: law, policy, and practice
• Smuggling: law, policy, and practice
• Trafficking: law, policy, and practice
• International dimensions of smuggling and trafficking
• History of biosecurity and quarantine
• National and international dimensions of biosecurity and quarantine
• Contemporary challenges in border protection

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

The unit will be assessed by three assessment tasks:

1. Quiz: students will demonstrate understanding of key topics including law, policy, and practice (20%)
2. Risk rating exercise: using guidelines, students will learn about risk analysis and the law and policy underpinning risk analysis in a specific area of border protection (40%)
3. Ministerial briefing note: using a template, students will analyze a cluster of unit topics and respond to a request for critical analysis of a proposed reform (40%)

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

This unit comprises 150 hours of study in total, taught over a 12-week semester with one 2-hour lecture followed by a 1-hour tutorial each week or ACU Online 10-week asynchronous delivery mode. The unit begins with a foundation of knowledge about the history and purpose of customs and progresses to consideration of law, policy, and practice across Australian airports and seaports, smuggling, and trafficking.

Representative Texts and References

• Australian Customs Law and Practice, CCH: 1990
• Fili A, Jahnsen S & Powell R, eds., Criminal Justice Research in an Era of Mass Mobility, 2021
• Sitkin L, Re-thinking the Political Economy of Immigration Control: A Comparative Analysis, 2019
• Côté-Boucher K, Border Frictions: Gender, Generation and Technology on the Frontline, 2020
• Sanchez G, Human Smuggling and Border Crossings, 2016
• Vecchio F, Asylum Seeking and the Global City, 2016
• Aliverti A, Crimes of Mobility: Criminal Law and the Regulation of Immigration, 2015
• Weber L, Policing Non-Citizens, 2013
• Bolzan N, Darcy M & Mason J, eds., Fenced Out, Fenced In: Border Protection, Asylum and Detention in Australia, 2006

Locations

• Brisbane
• Blacktown
• Melbourne
• North Sydney

Credit Points

10

Year

2026