Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Why is it that, five years after the 2001 terrorist attacks in America and one year after Sir John Wheeler warned the government about major holes in Australia’s aviation security, a security gate at Australia’s largest and busiest airport, Sydney airport, was left open and unattended yesterday, allowing what has been described as a procession of cars and utilities to pass through?

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

As happened yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition has not checked his facts. He is wrong and, unfortunately, that has been typical of his approach to these sorts of issues.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Beazley interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition has asked his question.

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

The reality is that the gate that was open and featured on the front page of the Daily Telegraphso he did get up early enough to read the front page of the Daily Telegraph today—was not the gate to the security area of the airport; it was the access to a construction site at the Qantas terminal—and a second fence, with an appropriate security gate and appropriate protection and meeting the appropriate standards, was in place to ensure the security of the airport area.

Mr Gilmour, the General Manager of Corporate Affairs of Sydney Airport Corporation, has issued a statement to that effect, which states quite clearly that the article in the Daily Telegraph referred to a gate which was on the landside work site and does not provide access to the secure area of the airport. The gate leads to a Qantas hangar which is currently undergoing refurbishment. There is a further security fence behind the construction site which provides security for the airport. So, in fact, the operations of the airport were appropriate in this instance. There was construction going on, so they provided a new security fence to appropriate standards to ensure that the airport airside area was secure.