Australian airport workers escaping security checks

Last Updated: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:32:00 +1100

Transport industry workers say increasing security at Australian airports is a step in the right direction, but more stringent checks are needed when recruiting airport staff.

The Australian Government has announced it is spending $US175 million on improving passenger and cargo screening - including introducing body scanners in some airports from early next year.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the measures were recommended in the wake of the botched Christmas Day terrorism attack in the US, where a man allegedly attempted to set off a bomb on a flight bound for Detroit.

Transport Workers' Union national secretary Tony Sheldon says the initiative is a step in the right direction, but staff still need better training and more security checks.

"Sometimes up to 25 per cent are not security checked before they start operating as security guards at our airports. That is a dangerous situation," he said.

Mr Sheldon says money needs to be allocated to better training airport staff.

"The fundamentals on training, security checks on people operating in sensitive areas at our airports, the responsibility of people that operate our airports and subcontract work out, which allows high turnover, a lack of security checks on individuals, mean our airports are still vulnerable," he said.

Roger Henning from the firm Homeland Security Asia Pacific, says that security on the tarmac is being overlooked.

"If you have a fluorescent jacket and a torch, you can wander around at night," he said.

"If you go to an airport where there's nobody there at all, you can do exactly as you please."

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