Australian Border Force and immigration department officials have the final say over one of Australia’s most popular reality television shows and can use any footage from the show for their own purposes for free.

For years the program Border Security: Australia’s Frontline has been one of the top-rating shows on television. The reality TV show follows customs and immigration officers on the frontline of border security as they defend the country against such perils as improperly packaged cashews, stowaway carrots and the occasional drug smuggler. It’s now up to 11 seasons and has a spinoff in Canada.

How the show gets its exclusive behind-the-scenes access has for many years been shrouded in mystery. But Guardian Australia has obtained, under freedom of information laws, the 2013-14 deed of agreement between the commonwealth and the Seven Network.

The deed shows that in exchange for access to the backrooms and control towers of our airports, the Seven Network must get every show signed off by the immigration department – which oversees the border force – and can request any edits it wants.

A Seven Network spokesman said the approval requirement was aimed at protecting ongoing investigations and Seven considered it a fair process that allowed the company to showcase the hard work of ABF officers.

The television company objected to the release of a series of key provisions in the deed that show the extent to which immigration controls the show. The deed says Seven “will provide the commonwealth with a DVD disk of each completed episode for approval”.

It adds that “the commonwealth may require the removal of any footage that, in the commonwealth’s opinion, infringes the law or compromises the commonwealth’s working practice and/or current investigation, is defamatory, or may prejudice an issue in pending or existing litigation”.

The approval process is complex. Seven’s legal counsel provide pre-publication advice. The immigration department’s lawyers then view each episode and sign off.

If the department has any concerns there will be a conference call. If changes are required Seven recuts the footage. Only then will the departmentallow the episode to be broadcast. Written approval is needed for the broadcasting of every show.

The deed says “ultimate editorial control” rests with Seven. But this control “does not limit the commonwealth’s right to require changes to the program”.

The Seven Network was also unhappy about the release of a further section on intellectual property rights. It grants immigration a licence to use any of its footage from the show in any way it wants.

A “permanent, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, non-exclusive licence (include a right to sublicense to use and reproduce vision” is the price Seven pays for its access.

Security is taken seriously. Most content can be kept in Seven’s office “in a locked room or cupboard”. Security clearance is required for staff on the show.

But the company is required to store sensitive information about Australian federal police operations “at a higher level of security”. For this material not one but two locks are required.

“As a minimum this must involve storage in a locked container, within a locked room, within a locked Network Seven building,” the deed says. Only two members of staff may access it.

Border security information is the same kind of data that customs has previously referred to the Australian federal police for investigation when journalists write about it and is now subject to the new Australian Border Force disclosure offence.

The Seven Network spokesman said: “Seven retains editorial control of the program. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) approvals are there to protect ongoing investigations, to update information in the case of developments and to guard against methodology being shown which might compromise a future investigation.”

In response to a question about why Seven had not disclosed the extent of control exercised by the immigration department, he said: “Border Security is a fly-on-the-wall program about the thousands of frontline officers protecting our border, not the workings of Channel Seven production. The approval process does not affect the storytelling so is irrelevant to viewers.

“The interest is in the stories, not the mechanics of getting the program to air. The stories have complete integrity and that’s Seven’s commitment.”

He added that Seven had objected to the release of parts of the deed to Guardian Australia because it was confidential commercially.

The show has been running for 10 years but the first deed was signed in 2010 under Labor. The deeds are re-signed each year. Guardian Australia understands the national communications team for the then department of immigration and citizenship was generally the division involved in assessing footage.

A spokesman for the immigration department stressed the department had overall responsibility for the show and little had changed in the past 10 years. But he said operational experts – which Guardian Australia understands are now part of the border force – are involved in clearing the footage.

The force is described as the “operational arm” of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The ABF is involved in airport operations, entry operations and border protection command operations. The spokesman said material from the show was “cleared by operational and legal experts within DIBP”.

He continued: “DIBP reviews material Channel Seven proposes to broadcast to ensure information which could affect operations is not disclosed.

“Content relating to immigration matters is cleared by operational and legal experts within DIBP but, as stated in the DoA, Channel Seven maintains ultimate editorial control of the program.

“DIBP is satisfied that there are appropriate protocols in place in relation to the security of commonwealth information.”

The show faced criticism last year when it was accused of creating an intimidating environment by the US transgender activist Monica Jones. The immigration minister has sought to strike out Jones’s claim that her visa was wrongfully cancelled.

Under the deed, ABF and immigration officers at airports can share information with Seven Network staff, who are bound by confidentiality obligations.

Emails obtained by Guardian Australia between the Seven producer David Dutton and the immigration department’s Lancia Jordana show that producers and the immigration officers have a close working relationship.

On 3 December, after the Jones story broke, Dutton sent an email to the immigration department’s communications team, saying: “This is in regards to a story I personally began to shoot last Friday. I gained Monica’s signed consent but she later requested we stop. We did so immediately.

“Lancia was witness to me informing Monica that we film with DIBP on a regular basis and that we just happened to be rostered on to film there on that particular day (we were not targeting her). In fact, I also approached other passengers on the same day.

“I explicitly emphasised to Monica that we work independently from the DIBP and that her choice to allow us (or not) to film her immigration interview would have no influence on the outcome.”

Dutton said Jones had told him of her activism and he had been “extremely careful” in his approach, polite and respectful.



He later emailed a copy of the consent form signed by Jones. Dutton witnessed the signing of the form, which outlines that Jones agreed to video being recorded and that the Seven Network owns and controls all rights to the program. The form does not disclose that immigration will review any footage before it can go to air or that they will be granted a licence to use the footage in any way they like.

The Seven spokesman said the release “is clearly worded and participants are fully aware they are being filmed for Border Security, with the ABF’s cooperation”.

A week later, Dutton sent a further email to Jordana, one of the immigration national communications team, with a link to an ABC Lateline story on Jones. He wrote in the body: “Admits to telling lies!”

He continued: “Will Lateline run a follow up on it? Guess not?”

Jordana replied: “Here here Dave. Vindication at last! I will ask Craig to pass this article to his team.”



The immigration spokesman said in relation to Jones’s case: “The passenger initially consented in writing to be filmed but later withdrew her permission. Filming ceased immediately at that time and no material was subsequently broadcast.”

When asked how regularly changes are requested by the immigration department, the Seven spokesman said: “Seven and the ABF have experienced personnel who work constructively and collaboratively on stories so that it minimises the need for changes. ABF edits are required from time to time for operational or security reasons but ultimate editorial control over the storytelling remains with Seven.”