Australia to boost airport security

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday announced moves to seal gaps in the security of Australia's airports as the nation continues to tighten its defences against terrorism and organised crime.

The measures, costing almost A$200 million ($220 million), follow a review of aviation security by Sir John Wheeler, the former head of Britain's national criminal intelligence service, ordered after the London terror bombings.

They include specialised aviation police units, tighter screening for airport employees, tighter tarmac security, beefed-up intelligence and much greater use of closed-circuit television.

Sir John found that the airports, which handle A$70 billion in trade and 100 million passengers a year, have security problems that include turf wars between police and other law agencies, flawed screening and inadequately policed access to high-security areas.

"Policing at major airports in Australia is often inadequate and dysfunctional, and security systems are typically unco-ordinated," Sir John says in his report.

Mr Howard said that while the report was positive overall and noted significant moves taken since the September 11 terror attacks in the United States in 2001, it had identified areas where airport security could be improved.

Transport Minister Warren Truss added: "There's been a bit of a tradition over the years of state and federal police not working as well together as they should do, and sometimes the various agencies endeavour to maintain their own turf rather than look at ways in which they can work with the other policing arrangements."

The Wheeler report says airports suffer from a "marked inhibition" towards sharing critical information, and a lack of clarity, consistency and alignment in decision-making.

While the private sector is crying out to be brought - and kept - up to date on the dangers of crime and terrorism, public and private security organisations refuse to share information with one another, ensuring that the job of gathering information can never be more than half done, says Sir John.

"Until all connected with aviation and airport security put into practice the idea that information is a primary weapon [against crime and terrorism] and that sharing information is a means of sharpening that weapon, the security system will falter.

"The way in which institutions set themselves up as silos and keep their security data and ideas to themselves must end."

The report criticises existing security screening for airport staff, including the ability of applicants for security passes to use fraudulent information, inadequate background checks on applicants who had spent long periods abroad, and flawed checking of criminal records.

Howard also announced a new emphasis on information-swapping between police and security agencies and new explosives-detecting technology.