Australian Broadcasting Corporation
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1381436.htm
Broadcast: 31/05/2005
Customs probe uncovers security black spots
Reporter: Jonathan Harley
KERRY O'BRIEN: But first - the nation's biggest airport is back in the spotlight tonight with a top secret Customs report revealing what they call "a hot bed of criminal activity." The leaked report claims Sydney staff with high-level security clearances, including air crew, cleaners and baggage handlers are involved in drug smuggling and stealing from passengers. News of the report, completed in early 2004, came as a major surprise to the Federal Government and the aviation industry who were all apparently kept in the dark. It's believed the Customs probe has uncovered numerous security black spots - areas of the airport which can't be captured by surveillance cameras and are reportedly exploited by staff involved in drug trafficking. Jonathan Harley reports.
SENATOR CHRIS ELLISON, CUSTOMS MINISTER: I haven't seen the report.
JOHN ANDERSON, TRANSPORT MINISTER (IN PARLIAMENT): I didn't become aware of the report until this morning.
KIM BEAZLEY, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION (IN PARLIAMENT): The complacency of the Minister is extraordinary.
JONATHAN HARLEY: It appears to be the country's best-kept secret. When the 'Australian' newspaper splashed across its front page sensational details of a classified Customs report into alleged security breaches at Sydney airport, everyone from government ministers to the nation's aviation bosses were oblivious to the report's very existence.
GEOFF ASKEW, QANTAS SECURITY CHIEF: Qantas was very surprised to read the article in The Australian this morning. We had no idea of the existence of that report.
JONATHAN HARLEY: Max Moore-Wilton, have you read the classified customs report flagged in The Australian today?
MAX MOORE-WILTON, SYDNEY AIRPORT CORPORATION: No, I have not.
JONATHAN HARLEY: Were you aware of it?
MAX MOORE-WILTON: No, I was not, not until I read The Australian.
JONATHAN HARLEY: It's startling that a document with such alarming findings was not made known to those whose job it is to protect national security and fight crime. The report details a range of serious security breaches and illegal activities across airport operations allegedly involving baggage handlers, ramp and trolley workers, security screeners, cleaners and even air crew.
KIM BEAZLEY (IN PARLIAMENT): We've got a genuine matter of urgency here on our hands, Mr Speaker, and we need an explanation of considerably more detail than we managed to get out of the Deputy Prime Minister in Question Time.
JONATHAN HARLEY: In Parliament, the Opposition seized on the report.
ROBERT McCLELLAND, OPPOSITION HOMELAND SECURITY SPOKESMAN: Well, applying again the pub test, Mr Deputy Speaker, what Australians realise is those who are most self-righteous frequently have the most to hide.
JONATHAN HARLEY: The Government tried to turn defence into attack, by accusing the Opposition of refusing to receive an official briefing on a report that none of them knew about.
JOHN ANDERSON: If he were being genuinely responsible on this, he would have sought a prior private briefing on it. He is yabbering away over there, as is his want, but he knows full well that the right thing to have done here would have been to have sought a proper briefing.
JONATHAN HARLEY: This evening, Labor has formally requested to see the report. Someone else who wants to read it is the man who runs Sydney airport.
MAX MOORE-WILTON: In all of the major criminal cases which have come to light in the last six to 12 months, they've been conducted by law enforcement agencies and they specifically have not informed Sydney airport, specifically.
JONATHAN HARLEY: Do you feel left in the dark?
MAX MOORE-WILTON: I've expressed my concern to state and federal ministers.
JONATHAN HARLEY: How forcefully?
MAX MOORE-WILTON: Well, we've expressed our concern.
JONATHAN HARLEY: There are as many as 60,000 workers here at Australia's largest airport, everything from small retailers to senior intelligence officers. They have many masters, but ultimately it's a question of who bears the responsibility for matters of national security, fighting crime and traveller safety.
MAX MOORE-WILTON: The great majority of people work for the airlines, and ground handling companies and contractors, and they are subject to regulations set by the Federal and State Government. Let's be 100 per cent clear about that.
GEOFF ASKEW: We have no information or evidence to suggest that there actually is organised crime occurring at Sydney airport.
JONATHAN HARLEY: Australia's biggest airline, Qantas, was also unaware of the alarming allegations but says it will do whatever is asked of it.
GEOFF ASKEW: And I think we need to do what's necessary to restore the public's confidence. We will - we will, Qantas, support any initiative by the government to introduce screening of staff going to the workplace at the major airports.
JONATHAN HARLEY: The Customs report alleges that 39 security screeners out of 500 at Sydney airport have a serious criminal conviction. Two Customs operations dubbed Tempest and Berlap have focused on criminal links, such as the alleged cocaine smuggling racket busted by police earlier this month. But inevitably, it raises questions about security against terrorism.
KIM BEAZLEY: Logically, if you can move drugs around an airport, logically, if you can move things around an airport, then there in logic there must be the possibility that you can move semtex around by the same show.
SENATOR CHRIS ELLISON: There are a number of investigations under way. I can't comment on those investigations. We are taking this very seriously, but it's not cause for public panic in relation to travelling, in fact, I'd say to the Australian public that they should not panic and that they can rest assured that we have safe and secure skies.
JONATHAN HARLEY: Nearly eight months after Schapelle Corby was arrested, what began as a trickle of concerns about Australian airport security is now threatening to become a torrent.
MAX MOORE-WILTON: There is community concern. We need to stringently review the current measures, and see whether any more can be done and that's what I understand the authorities are doing. Sydney airport will cooperate with that. But the fundamental responsibility for law enforcement and terrorism enforcement rests with government.
KERRY O'BRIEN: Jonathan Harley with a story that seems to just keep growing.
