Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Aviation Crimes and Policing Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 [2011] is a significant piece of legislation, aimed at securing Australia’s aviation sector from criminal misbehaviour and providing a clearer and stronger legislative framework for the policing of such crimes. I rise to add my voice to the strong bipartisan support for these measures.

Firstly, the Aviation Crimes and Policing Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 [2011] provides for new and reviewed penalties for criminal acts at Australia’s 11 major airports. Clearly, there is an imperative to investigate suspected crimes with efficiency and without undue obstructions to AFP personnel. However, quite obviously there is also a need to find a suitable balance between the need to investigate and the rights of lawful passengers travelling by air to be allowed passage without unnecessary delay and inconvenience. This bill finds the balance.

People are understandably concerned for their safety when travelling by air. I am sure that, for many Australians, the experience of air travel can at times be a stressful and harrowing experience. This is particularly the case for those people unaccustomed to regular flying. That is not to say that Australians ought to be fearful; we have very safe aviation security processes already in place. But the experience of air travel is often very different from the daily life experience of many passengers. When travelling domestically, Australians should rightly be given every reassurance that the government takes their safety seriously.

In order to provide this reassurance it is important that the penalties for aviation crimes reflect community expectations of the seriousness of offences committed. In his second reading speech, the Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Justice and Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information noted, from an internal review by the Attorney-General’s Department, ‘It is inappropriate that acts creating significant distress such as bomb threats should be punished under an offence providing for merely two years imprisonment.’ In saying that, I recognise that oppressively harsh penalties are not desirable, either. Again, this bill’s tiered approach to the classification of offences finds the necessary balance. No doubt there is a difference between acts of hijacking and the harm resulting from hoaxes, for example. While this is not to deny the considerable concern and inconvenience which such a hoax may cause, this tiered approach does reflect what I believe to be a gradation of seriousness in such acts.

In addition to the offence provisions I have already spoken about, this bill creates a changed framework for policing operations and security at these airports. While it is important not to embrace changed procedures for the sake of changing procedures, the support for these changes attests the quality of these reforms. These reforms follow the 2009 federal audit of police capabilities, headed by Roger Beale AO. I welcome these changed police arrangements. It involves granting additional functions to Australian Federal Police personnel at these 11 major airports, overhauling the previous unified policing model approach to airport policing. It reflects the national nature of the risk at hand and the priority which ought to be given to the efficient management of policing duties.

The application of this bill to the major 11 domestic airports has direct relevance to commercial airlines in my electorate of Wannon. In addition to instilling confidence in our aviation security measures Australia wide, Wannon residents can feel assured that security when flying between Wannon and Adelaide has been strengthened by this bill. Air travel is as important to the people of Wannon as it is to people in other regions and the major cities of Australia. Aviation provides opportunities for leisure and business as well as an important way that families across Australia can enjoy regular contact.

Airline security is an issue I take most seriously. This bill finds the necessary balance between the need to ensure confidence in Australia’s airport security regime and the need to maintain penalties proportionate to the crimes concerned. I therefore have no hesitation in supporting these measures as appropriate in ensuring Australia’s aviation security and ensuring that Wannon residents can fly securely to one of their key destinations.

See this speech in context