Race car driver orders Commonwealth to release Customs documents after being detained 30 times without charge
An international racing car driver has ordered Border Force authorities to hand over documents relating to his numerous interrogations and searches at Australian airports.
Greg Holloway, who says he has no criminal record, said he was detained more than 30 times unnecessarily at Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane airports since 2011.
The Melbourne-based driver and businessman is suing the Commonwealth for damages, alleging Australian Border Force officers interrogated him and performed searches and X-ray testing of his luggage that exceeded their lawful powers, News Corp reported.
He alleges Customs detained him for two hours on a flight home from Austria, where officers read his personal diary and mocked him.
On another trip, Mr Holloway claims he was accused of lying about having a mental illness.
In April last year, an external strip search was performed on him at Sydney airport, he said.
In a statement of claim he said a Customs officer said: “Look at you, there’s no way you race cars, not in your condition.”
On each occasion, the jet-setting driver says he was released without charge or further investigation.
The entrepreneur has demanded documentation relating to screening processes of incoming passengers; his completed incoming passenger cards and officers’ markings; and CCTV footage of luggage searches, interviews and his external strip search.
Mr Holloway claims the alleged airport incidents caused him “loss or damage”, including loss of liberty for extended periods, fear, anxiety and panic attacks.
He also said the troubles with Customs caused loss of income and business opportunities, forcing him to sell his IT and communications business Internex Australia in December 2012.
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The driver also claims officers exceeded their lawful powers by falsely imprisoning him and taking possession of his property, according to News Corp.
The Commonwealth denied the allegations, saying questioning Mr Holloway and performing searches on his person or luggage was authorised by the Customs Act.
The Commonwealth claimed such documentation could not be released, or released in full, due to legal privilege or public interest immunity, however Supreme Court Justice John Dixon last week ordered the documents to be released.
“I am persuaded that the plaintiff has properly identified a legitimate forensic purpose for each of the categories of documents and, mostly, for the information that has been concealed by redaction,” Judge Dixon said.
News break – July 6
