Airline Review's and Audits 

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COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIAOfficial Committee HansardCOMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
Further inquiry into aviation security
WEDNESDAY, 24 AUGUST 2005 BRISBANE 
BY AUTHORITY OF THE PARLIAMENT
Page.18 of this reports reveals there has been an ongoing problem with baggage handler's & security. Mr Peter Bennett, Federal President, Customs Officers Association of Australia states. 
This is somewhat different to the report below? 

Mr Bennett states - Mr Spanswick, in relation to the earlier inquiry, put a chalk number on a number of bags and followed them from when they were checked in to when they were despatched to aircraft. He put them on in sequential numbers and loaded them on to the top part of the inwards baggage handling area. When they came out at the other end they should have been in sequential number again. But they did not come out in sequential number again. When they came out at the other end, some of the bags had been moved. 

Mr Mahony, from the review of Customs administration procedures, asked how that could happen. 

Mr Spanswick and the commissioner got up into the space in the baggage handling areas between where it arrives and where it goes out, and they found a whole pile of locks cut in that area. The locks were just lying around, loose. Clearly, somebody had been in the area that was not available to anybody to see and had been opening bags and moving bags around that area. That was 22 years ago.In recent days—and this comes to the point that you were just making—I understand that some people have gone through and found locks in the space between the ceiling and the baggage handling areas. 

It is exactly the same area that Mr Spanswick was addressing 22 years ago. We still do not have any cameras there. We do not have any random examinations of the area. We do not have anybody being frisked coming in and out of the area. So it is more than anecdotal evidence. The locks were found there. 

They did not have 22 years worth of dust on them. 

This is current stuff.

This report is available on the  www.ahp.gov.com.au

Airline Review's and Audits 

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SUBMISSION OF QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED TO THE FURTHER REVIEW OF AVIATION SECURITY IN AUSTRALIA BY THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT 
Date - July 2005  
REVIEW OF AVIATION SECURITY IN AUSTRALIA
page 386.3.1 Schapelle Corby

On 8 October 2004, Schapelle Leigh Corby travelled from Brisbane to Bali via Sydney. Ms Corby travelled on Qantas flight QF 501 between Brisbane and Sydney (departing Brisbane at 6am and arriving in Sydney at 7.30am), and then on Australian Airlines flight AO 7829 between Sydney and Denpasar (departing Sydney at 10.15am and arriving in Denpasar, Bali at 2.30pm local). Ms Corby travelled as part of a group of three with two female companions.

Ms Corby checked in at Counter 11 at the Brisbane Qantas Domestic Terminal at 5.33am. Four items of baggage were checked in under her name and were ‘through checked’ to Denpasar. Three of the four items were ‘normal’ sized bags; the fourth (a bag containing the body board) was over-size. Baggage tags were attached to each item. The over-sized body board bag was then carried from the check-in counter to the over-size baggage counter at the eastern end of the check-in hall, where it was handed to a member of Qantas check-in staff and inserted into the baggage system.

The four bags were weighed and the collective weight of 65kg was recorded. This is standard industry practice. There is no requirement for Qantas to record the weight of the individual bags. A collective weight is sufficient for each passenger for total aircraft weight calculations, loading considerations and balance calculations. Qantas has adopted the terms of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Baggage

Services Manual (effective 1 April 2003) into its own Baggage Policy in relation to weighing checked baggage. The Manual states.


Page.42
6.3.2
NSW Crime Commission Investigation
Since October 2004, the New South Wales Crime Commission (NSWCC) has been conducting an investigation into an organised crime syndicate importing cocaine from South America into Australia through the Sydney International Terminal. It has been alleged that Qantas baggage handlers assisted in the importation by removing the bag containing the drugs from the airport, thus bypassing the Customs examination process. Since January 2005, Qantas Group Security has been assisting the NSWCC in an attempt to identify the baggage handlers allegedly involved.

Two Qantas baggage handlers and a Security Manager have been dismissed in relation to associated (non-criminal) matters. No Qantas employees have been arrested to date in relation to the cocaine importation investigation.

To get a better understanding of how the review was conducted read the whole report - click on the linkhttp://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jpaa/aviation_security2/subs/sub61.pdf

Source: JOINT COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT
Reference: Further inquiry into aviation security in AustraliaWEDNESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2005 - SYDNEY  - COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Source: Official Committee Hansard
JOINT COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT
Reference: Further inquiry into aviation security in AustraliaMONDAY, 5 DECEMBER 2005CANBERRA - BY AUTHORITY OF THE PARLIAMENT

Scrutiny for baggage handlers
By Neil McMahon, Joseph Kerr and Matthew Moore

May 12, 2005

Baggage handler arrested at domestic terminal