Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

Their proposal is to spend $5 million on security equipment for individual passenger checking facilities and baggage X-ray facilities at each of these airports. This would add thousands—indeed, tens of thousands of dollars—to the cost of tickets for flights out of airports in many parts of regional Australia. That would be a recipe for closing down airports. We do not believe that is a reasonable response. That is not in conformity with what Sir John Wheeler recommended. He recommended that security be provided appropriate to the risks in each instance. In the case of an airport like Dubbo, which does not have jet services and therefore individual passengers are not screened unless there is a particular risk assessment that suggests it needs to be done—

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