Australian Customs Service

Australian Customs Service
Australian Customs Flag
Agency overview
Formed1 July 1985[1]
Preceding Agency
Dissolved22 May 2009
Superseding Agency
TypeStatutory authority
JurisdictionGovernment of Australia
HeadquartersCustoms House
Canberra
35°17′1″S 149°7′55″E / 35.28361°S 149.13194°E / -35.28361; 149.13194
Employees6,284 (in April 2008)[2]
Minister responsible
  • Minister for Justice and Customs
  • Minister for Home Affairs
Agency executives
  • Michael Carmody, Chief Executive Officer (2006–2009)
  • Lionel Woodward, Chief Executive Officer (1994–2005)
  • Frank Kelly, Comptroller‑General (1988–1994)
  • Tom Hayes, Comptroller‑General (1985–1988)

The Australian Customs Service was an Australian Government agency responsible for Australian border protection, duties and taxes between 1985 and 2009. The Service was first under the portfolio of the Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce from 1985 to 1998 and then the Attorney-General's Department from 1998 to 2009.[3]

In 1998, the collection of Excise duties was transferred to the Australian Taxation Office. The Service was dismantled in 2009 and replaced with the newly augmented, retasked and renamed Australian Customs and Border Protection Service which moved from AGD to the newly established Department of Immigration and Border Protection in September 2013.

  1. ^ CA 4416: Australian Customs Service, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 17 February 2015
  2. ^ Australian Public Service Commission (2008), State of the Service 2007–08 (PDF), Australian Government, p. 305
  3. ^ From Federation to the Australian Border Force