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

Mr Speaker, I seek the indulgence of the chair to add to an answer.

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

The minister may proceed.

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

Yesterday, the honourable member for Brisbane asked me a series of questions about security at Sydney airport, in particular in relation to the temporary fence that has been built as the new security fence while construction is occurring in one of the Qantas hangars. I will table some pictures of the fence which will demonstrate to anyone who cares to notice that it is a very substantial fence with barbed wire at the top. It meets all of the requirements for a security fence at an airport.

The honourable member for Brisbane then went on to wave around a timber chock, and he asked if this was the best practical measure the government could find to protect the Australian public from terror attacks at our busiest airport, after having said earlier that this chock was all that was keeping out terrorists from moving from the construction site to the secure area of the airport.

I was naturally concerned by the claims by the honourable member for Brisbane, and so I have arranged for the Office of Transport Security and the Qantas security people to examine the site and to look for a chock of the nature that the honourable member for Brisbane displayed to the House. We did find such a chock near to a door, and I have also brought along a picture of that chock. It is quite clearly rather like the one that the member for Brisbane displayed. However, the problem for the honourable member for Brisbane is that it was at an entrance to an office, an office that was entirely inside the construction site. There is no chock of the nature that the honourable member for Brisbane put on display that has had any part at all to do with the security fence surrounding the Sydney airport. His question was dishonest and he needs to acknowledge his error.