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Oh Dear, Dear, Dear, dopey, dumb, dazzling, dickhead, Darren -  

Via the Oz today:

Random airport ground staff checks ‘a joke’

Transport Minister Darren Chester at Parliament House in Canberra.

• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM October 23, 2017
  
• [size=undefined]STEFANIE BALOGH
  
  National Education Correspondent
  Canberra
  @stefaniebalogh
  [img=0x0]https://i1.wp.com/pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/4467ddaa85f7dca1b49cb9241b5edc84/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img][/size]
  

Behind-the-scenes airport workers such as baggage handlers, caterers, engineers and maintenance staff will undergo heightened random security checks, including screening for traces of explosives, as the federal government cracks down on potential “insider threats’’.

Transport Minister Darren Chester said the new measures, announced at the weekend, would strengthen controls to ensure airport workers were authorised, properly identified and appropriately trained before entering secure airside areas.

But independent senator Nick Xenophon derided it as a “joke’’ because the additional screening would involve only random checks of workers accessing secure areas. “Systems of checking can be easily bypassed. People with evil intent can be tipped off by mates and avoid random screening,’’ Senator Xenophon said.

Transport Workers Union acting national secretary ­Michael Kaine said the measures did not go far enough.

“Extra checks on staff are piecemeal, amounting to little more than window-dressing. It is also regrettable that the government did not consult with airport workers and the TWU before announcing these measures,’’ he said.

“We have been flagging for several years the problem of high turnover rates, which means hundreds of workers are on a daily basis accessing secure areas of our airports without proper checks or security clearance.’’

• READ MORE
  
• Editorial: Upgrading airline security
  

The tightening of security measures at major domestic airports follows the last-minute discovery of an alleged sophisticated plot to smuggle a military-grade explosive device onto an international flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi in July.

“Airport workers, together with their vehicles and belongings, will be randomly selected for explosive-trace detection testing and other screening when entering or working in secure airside areas at major airports,” Mr Chester said.

Senator Xenophon said most Australians would be shocked to find that while passengers and ­pilots are screened on their way into secure areas, baggage handlers, catering and ground staff with Aviation Security Identification Cards were not. “If it is good enough for pilots and passengers, it should be good enough for everyone,’’ he said. “In countries like the US, all airport staff are required to be screened. Our government’s approach to random inspections is a joke.’’

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