The spokesperson said APP performs two key functions for border security.

It allows an airline to electronically verify a passenger's authority to travel to, and enter, Australia before boarding a flight and signals the impending arrival of a passenger on an international flight to enable the passenger's arrival processing.

"The Australian and the US systems are both advance passenger information systems. However, how they use and collect data is different; our system has additional functionality," the spokesperson said.

"Australia's APP system does not use airline reservation information or Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.

"Instead, the airline check-in agent collects data from the passenger's passport and sends that data to Australia's APP system for validation purposes and no other data is collected for processing."