Representing Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA), I was privileged to spend a full day yesterday in bilateral meetings with senior Australian Border Force (ABF) executives discussing key reform and partnership opportunities, including:
- Alternate cargo reporting
- Regulatory sandbox initiatives
- Self-Assessed Clearance (SAC) reform
- Customs broker licensing
- Differential cost recovery models
- ABF media engagement
- 2026 FTA-hosted Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Regulated Facility training – refer HERE
- 2026 Australia & New Zealand Shipping & Logistics Conference – refer HERE
The highlight of the engagement was a productive meeting with the ABF Commissioner Gavan Reynolds, coinciding with the launch of the National Disruption Group, established to dismantle the business model behind illicit tobacco trade – media release available HERE.Related discussions explored opportunities to revitalise the BorderWatch initiative and how to incentivise greater participation of high-volume importers in the Australian Trusted Trader program, further strengthening supply chain integrity and trade facilitation.
We thank the ABF for the opportunity for this engagement and will provide updates in coming weeks on the above initiatives.
Paul Zalai - Director FTA / Secretariat APSA