RNZAF to rescue Prime Minister

4.55 pm

An Air Force Orion has been sent to Australia to airlift Prime Minister Helen Clark to New Zealand after she was stranded at Melbourne Airport by angry Ansett workers.

She was not expected in New Zealand until late tonight.

A spokesman for Miss Clark said the military arrangements were made because no commercial flight had been available to get the prime minister home

He said there had been no security risk to Miss Clark.

Miss Clark had earlier been whisked from Melbourne to an Australian Air Force Base, at East Sale in Victoria, in a police helicopter.

She was marooned at Melbourne after Ansett Australia staff blockaded an Air New Zealand aircraft she was due to board.

Up to 16,000 Ansett workers might lose their jobs after the Air New Zealand subsidiary was yesterday placed in voluntary administration, grounding all Ansett flights from today.

Ansett staff this morning parked several aircraft-moving vehicles and luggage carriers behind three Air New Zealand aircraft which were due to fly to Auckland or Wellington.

The staff then apparently walked off with the keys, causing problems shifting the vehicles.

Miss Clark, who was returning to New Zealand from an abandoned trip to Europe following the terrorist attacks in the United States, was a passenger on one of the Air New Zealand aircraft.

However it is not thought she was specifically targeted for protests.

Initially, she was to wait at Melbourne for another commercial flight.

However about midday it was revealed she had been taken from the airport, on a police helicopter at the request of the Australian Federal Police.

A Federal Police spokesman told NZPA they could not divulge why she was moved or where she had been taken.

She said Federal Police become involved at the request of the Attorney General's office in Canberra. That office declined to comment, and referred questions back to the police.

An Australian Air Force spokeswoman would not say where Miss Clark was, and referred questions to the New Zealand High Commission.

A spokesman there also would not say where she was.

Asked why there was so much secrecy over Miss Clark's whereabouts if there had been no threat, the spokesman said the High Commission had wanted to make alternative arrangements.

"Understandably the Ansett development has given rise to strong emotions."

Air New Zealand this afternoon suspended check-in for flights to Australia, and was monitoring all airports in Australia to which it flies.

Air New Zealand was to review it's flights to Australia later today.

Spokespeople at Melbourne Airport and for Melbourne police said there had been no problems with protesters at the airport.

- NZPA

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