Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aviation and Transport Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services. I refer the minister to the answer he gave regarding the open gate at Australia’s busiest airport. Minister, isn’t it the case that, even though you tried to reassure the House that the gate was not a security point, shortly after question time yesterday it became one, when security personnel were posted to that very gate? Why didn’t the minister put guards at the gate to protect Australians, when he is prepared to put guards at the gate to protect the Howard government against bad media coverage?

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

The situation is clear. The gate was the gate to a building site. It was the gate to reconstruction work that is going on in the Qantas hangar at Sydney airport, and it was not a part of the security system for the airport. The security system for the airport was another fence that had been constructed at the back of the construction site. Security was not in any way at risk as a result of the activities that have occurred at Sydney airport. The gate was open because it was open to a construction site where construction work was going ahead. The gate was closed in cases where it had access to runways and other airside activities.