01/07/09, 19:16:04 UTC

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Brisbane Qantas workers sidestep security

news.com.au

QANTAS has employed casual staff to work at Brisbane airport without Australian Federal Police security clearances.

The airline has rushed to hire 60 extra staff from an outside agency for Qantas Flight Catering Ltd, which prepares food for its own and many other international airlines.

The Transport Workers Union, which says other staff have had to undergo full security clearance checks, has expressed major concerns about the risk of terrorist or criminal infiltration.

"Under the present climate of terrorism around the world, I don't think anybody should be working in the airline industry, particularly near food preparation, without first having full and thorough security checks," TWU state secretary Hughie Williams said.

Qantas says the casuals will work in the washing-up area at the airport catering facility to cope with the busy period before Christmas.

A former Qantas catering employee said this area was next to the room where food for passengers, pilots and crews was stored and loaded on to trays and airline trolleys.

"There's nothing to stop them walking from one area to another," he said. "There are already people from that agency working in the food areas."

Australian National University terrorism expert Clive Williams said there should be security and criminal checks to clear any catering employee who prepared airline food or worked close to and had access to food preparation areas.

"You could actually get somebody vexatious, who doesn't have to be a terrorist, who doesn't like a particular airline, who might contaminate the food," he said.

He said it was relatively easy to contaminate food and if an airline catering company was preparing food for an American airline, there would be increased concern.

Qantas Flight Catering Ltd's Brisbane people manager Graham Beal told the union in a letter on September 21 the company had to employ 60 extra staff "to cover all positions in the business" over the next three months.

He said he had asked the agency to supply the extra labour "as quickly as possible".

"The advice we have received from Qantas security is that we can have agency labour admitted to work in the building before they are given a clearance from the Australian Federal Police," Mr Beal said in the letter.

He said the staff could work in catering as long as they had put in an application to the AFP, which required them to have Queensland Police Service clearance.

The Queensland check would show only state criminal convictions, but staff could have come from other states.

The TWU was told on Friday that 18 people from the agency already had started work without AFP checks.

Union boss Mr Williams was told it could take up to two months for the AFP criminal history checks.

"I'm very concerned about the security within the airline industry and the security in the catering division is absolutely necessary," he said.

Qantas executive general manager services Curtis Davies said the casual workers, employed in the washing up area, did not need Aviation Security Identification Cards because they were not working in a security restricted area.

However, he said they would be supervised at all times.

"Qantas is in the process of obtaining background checks for these staff," Mr Davies said.

 Printable Version  | published Sep 30, 2007