Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is wonderful that the member opposite raises the Wheeler report because, of course, the legislation we are dealing with is responding directly to the Wheeler report. Given that the Wheeler report was completed on 12 September last year, and given that it came down with that finding, is it not a shame that Wheeler did not conduct his inquiry back in 1983 after the gold heist? If there was going to be a serious examination of aircraft security measures, would you not think that in the very early days of the Hawke government they would have been concerned about the capacity of human beings to crawl into an aircraft and commit sabotage or other things? But, no, there they were charging along telling the community in general that anyone who complained about such a thing was probably a bum.

There are two parts to this bill. Firstly I would like to talk about events which occur at airports and that are outside the usual business of an airport. I am sure we can think of things that they might be—for example, air shows. There have been several fantastic air shows conducted at the local RAAF Base Amberley. The one that comes around every year is the Avalon air show. Obviously, events such as that need to be carefully managed so that they do not present opportunities for terrorism or for some other kind of sabotage or activity that threatens the security of our country.

Of course, whenever a dignitary such as a visiting international representative arrives at an airport a huge press contingent turns up and that disrupts the usual activity of an airport. It is similar when pop stars turn up. When the Beatles arrived in Australia there was a huge disruption. We have to be able to plan for that. That is part of this bill. Upcoming events which this legislation will apply to would include APEC 2007. That is an incredible undertaking with activities going on all over the country in a range of different locations. That is an absolutely vital and important part of the business of our country and international affairs and it needs to be carefully resourced. Of course, there is the international air show at Avalon next year. Similarly, that also needs to be addressed.

This bill allows security zones to be tailored to suit each of these events and indeed other events that may take place. Security controlled airports range in size and complexity from airports such as Sydney and Melbourne dealing with very high traffic right down to small, low-volume regional airports. There is every reason for us to have this kind of flexibility and capability to be able to put measures in place at somewhere as remote as Hamilton Island airport or the airport at Proserpine. These are things we need to be able to control effectively.

Thus the level of threat and the level of risk varies according to the airport. There is a misrepresentation continually coming from members opposite. As if the government is going to be able to be fully prepared for every single contingency. You can only do that sort of thing with the wisdom of hindsight. ‘If only we had greater awareness then perhaps 9-11 would never have happened. If only we had greater awareness, perhaps they would not have been, back in 1983, stealing gold off planes, as they did then.’ You can only say that with hindsight. We are getting an effort from the opposition to paint the government in a light that is unfavourable by simply highlighting every little opportunity that they might happen to trip over or be able to misrepresent as being a threat to the public, to scare the pants off the public and to perhaps win the view of the public and win their support to the notion that what is being done is inadequate.

However, as the Wheeler report has demonstrated, the response of the government is comprehensive and wide ranging. The Wheeler report made 17 recommendations dealing with a range of issues, including policing roles and responsibilities at airports, the procedures for background checking, and the flow of information and intelligence to airport operators as well as government agencies.

Since the completion of the Wheeler report, there has been quite a deal of funding allocated to implement the measures recommended by Wheeler. In total, the government has committed $866 million in response to that report. The figure includes the initial $119.5 million announced in response to the review in September 2005 and an additional $644 million covered in the 2006-07 budget. In total, since September 11, 2001, the government has committed more than $1.1 billion in aviation security initiatives.

Additional packages include $214 million towards enhancing aviation security capability and programs, $48 million for securing our regional skies and $21 million towards the Regional Air Funding Program. I commend that expenditure to members opposite. Perhaps they might like to consider it while they are nitpicking with various elements around the edges.

The government has also taken measures to strengthen air cargo security. The government, in partnership with industry, will implement new measures to further strengthen the security of domestic and international air cargo through a $48 million package of initiatives announced in the 2006-07 budget which complement and are directly associated with the bill we are dealing with today. The funding will significantly increase the ability of DOTARS and Customs to identify, inspect and respond to high risk export air cargo. The additional funding reflects the government’s strong commitment to counter potential security threats to the aviation sector and to improve the safety and security of aircraft and airline passengers. The sum of $35 million will be provided to Customs primarily for the purposes of introducing the use of mobile X-ray units and additional explosive detector dog teams to examine export air cargo. The sum of $13 million is to be provided to DOTARS to expand the use of explosive trace detection equipment.

Both international and domestic air cargo are securely regulated by DOTARS through the Regulated Air Cargo Agents Scheme. There are approximately 850 air cargo businesses currently securely regulated. I say ‘securely regulated’ in that these days those companies are so much more heavily and carefully scrutinised and so much more effectively monitored with the various checks and balances that apply that it is incredible to believe that back in 1983 people were able to crawl on planes by simply couriering themselves one to the other. This is an incredible jump forward. It shows an awareness by the government of this problem and it also shows that as we move forward and as further potential issues arise there will be a constant revision of the regime within which air cargo companies work, of the monitoring program that is applied to them, of the enforcement and policing measures that apply, of the coordination between police forces and policing measures, and of the regulations that apply to the transportation of the cargo itself. 

There has been quite a deal of work through the Department of Transport and Regional Services on the implementation of measures flowing from the Wheeler review and also in the wake of the COAG response, which involved every level of Australian government. Work to date by DOTARS on implementation includes the appointment of additional security analysis staff to facilitate the exchange of security and criminal related information, and significant progress has been made on strengthening background checking. The ASIC background checking regime has been strengthened by removing grandfathering provisions including a pattern of criminality and providing for more frequent background checking where a lower level of criminal activity is evident.

The necessary regulatory changes have been made and the new strengthening disqualifying criteria for the pattern of criminality came into effect on Monday, 6 March 2006. In addition, the government will establish a new division within the Attorney-General’s Department to coordinate background checking on people working in the secure areas of air and sea ports.

As I say, this is a comprehensive program that goes to the grassroots of the cargo management system and extends right through to proactive planning of policing and other activities. I commend the Aviation Transport Security Amendment Bill 2006 to the House. It is an effective response by the government, and I give it my full support. 

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