The Maritime Border Command (MBC) is Australia's principal civil maritime security agency, a de facto

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

, operating in the maritime domain to ensure compliance with Australia's maritime legislation by foreign and domestic non-state actors. It is responsible for border protection in the exclusive economic zone of Australia and its 19,650 kilometres of coastline and issues such as

illegal fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes p ...

and exploitation of natural resources, maritime terrorism and piracy, biosecurity threats, and

marine pollution Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The major ...

. It is a multi-agency command within the

Department of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

comprising both

Australian Border Force The Australian Border Force (ABF) is a federal law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for offshore and onshore border control enforcement, investigations, compliance and detention operations in Australia. T ...

(ABF) and

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

(ADF) personnel, led by a

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

. In February 2019, Lee Goddard was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and became the Commander of MBC.Rear Admiral Lee Goddard
/ref> The command was established in 2005 and originally named the Joint Offshore Protection Command. In October 2006 it was renamed to Border Protection Command and was again retitled to its current name in July 2015 to coincide with the establishment of ABF.

Structure

The MBC is a joint unit of the

(the

Patrol Force and the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Surveillance and Response Group) and the

(

Marine Unit Police watercraft are boats or other vessels that are used by police agencies to patrol bodies of water. They are usually employed on major rivers, in enclosed harbors near cities or in places where a stronger presence than that offered by the ...

and Coastwatch aircraft). Its headquarters are in Canberra and is part of the Operations Group of the ABF. The ABF is part of the

Australian Department of Home Affairs The Department of Home Affairs is the Australian Government interior ministry with responsibilities for national security, law enforcement, emergency management, border control, immigration, refugees, citizenship, transport security and multi ...

. Since September 2013, the MBC has supported the

Operation Sovereign Borders Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Defence Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 Australian federal election, 2013 ...

Joint Agency Taskforce. The ADF elements of MBC are commanded from Northern Command in

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the small ...

. The

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia ...

supports the MBC and particularly the ABF with criminal investigations, law enforcement and national security matters.

Role

The MBC delivers a coordinated national approach to offshore protection by operating as a single maritime surveillance, response and interception agency. It detects and deters a wide range of illegal activities using a combination of ABF and ADF aircraft and vessels. ABF response assets include Coastwatch aircraft and

patrol vessels. Its activities take place under a variety of legislation covering areas such as customs, fisheries, quarantine, immigration, environment and law enforcement. The MBC is responsible for coordinating and controlling operations to protect Australia's national interests against the following maritime security threats: * illegal exploitation of natural resources * illegal activity in protected areas * unauthorised maritime arrivals * prohibited imports/exports * maritime terrorism * piracy * compromise to bio-security * marine pollution.

Commanders

References

External links

Border Protection Command
* Rear Admiral Russ Cran

{{Coast guards Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Federal law enforcement agencies of Australia Commands of the Australian Defence Force Borders of Australia