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

The introduction of the new aviation security identification cards has been a very substantial exercise which is now largely complete. Tens of thousands of cards have been required to be issued. We have had good cooperation from the airlines and the various airport authorities in implementing this substantial improvement in the security regime at our airports around the country. It is inevitable in any system that there will be a very small error rate, and in this particular instance you have identified a small number.

In reality, it is an offence not to report those losses. They are individually followed up to ensure that, where a lost card occurs, it can be quickly identified and cancelled so that there is no risk of it being incorrectly used. But it is inevitable that, from time to time, cards will be lost and, therefore, you need to have in place appropriate mechanisms to deal with it. I am aware of some staff members and others in this place who lose their card from time to time and, therefore, attendants and others must chase them up and deal with the issues. We will have to do similar things in relation to aviation security, and there is an appropriate regime in place to deal with those occasional lost cards.

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