BRING BACK THE AFP
DEAR PRIME MINISTER: Hobart is a world-class tourism hot spot, not a regional backwater. We need to be treated with the same respect as every other capital city. It’s time to ...
POLITICIANS of all persuasions, national security experts, unions and Tasmania Police have joined in a common cause — calling on the Federal Government to return the Australian Federal Police to Hobart airport.
Since the AFP abandoned the airport in 2014, Hobart has continued to be Australia’s fastest growing tourist destination.
The airport has just had its busiest year on record and, with new routes to Adelaide and Asia, things are unlikely to slow. Against this and an increasing domestic terror risk, the AFP is being asked: “Where the bloody hell are you?”
The calls have intensified after an alleged terrorist attack to bring down a plane was averted in Sydney last month.
Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine has again written to
his federal counterpart urging for the AFP to return.
“Tasmania Police supports the return of AFP officers to Hobart airport [and] we have been advocating for an AFP presence since the departure of the officers at the airport in 2014,” Deputy Commissioner Scott Tilyard said.
Following the foiled Sydney plot, Police Minister Rene Hidding also wrote to the Federal Government urging a return of the AFP.
In the letter, Mr Hidding admits being “deeply concerned” that Hobart has a “lower level of service and protection” ahead of planned flights to Asia in 2018.
“I am asking you to urgently consider the permanent deployment of AFP officers back to Hobart International Airport,” Mr Hidding said.
“This concern is exacerbated by the fact that Australia’s national terror threat level remains at probable for the aviation sector.”
Last week the Federal Government announced a national review of security at regional airports.
“I am pleased our calls for action are being listened to and acted upon,” Mr Hidding told the Mercury.
Denison MP Andrew Wilkie also has reached out to Canberra, meeting the Prime Minister on Wednesday.
“I took the opportunity to impress upon the PM that Hobart airport is an iconic and economically important facility with no permanent AFP presence,” Mr Wilkie said.
“Moreover I explained to him how the threat of homegrown terrorism makes irrelevant the fact that Hobart is
This concern is exacerbated by the fact that Australia’s national terror threat level remains at probable for the aviation sector RENE HIDDING The threat of homegrown terrorism makes irrelevant the fact that Hobart is not an international airport ANDREW WILKIE
not an international airport.”
Police Association of Tasmania president Pat Allen has been calling for the AFP to return for three years.
“Tasmanians are again being treated as second-class citizens compared to the rest of Australia and we’re sick of it,” he said.
The AFP said its decision to leave was based on a security assessment, but the exit also formed part of the Federal Government’s 2014-15 budget cuts.
Since then there have been record visitations to Hobart.
In the past five years visitor numbers to Tasmania have increased about 40 per cent.
Tourism’s contribution to the economy is higher in Tasmania than anywhere in the country, according to Tourism Tasmania.
Of the 1.3 million visitors in the year to March, 89 per cent came in a plane and, of those, more than half went through Hobart airport.
Security expert Rajat Ganguly,
academic chair of Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism at Murdoch University, was surprised to learn the AFP wasn’t at the airport.
In a bid to increase security at major airports such as Sydney, Dr Ganguly suggested the AFP may be drawing on resources from smaller terminals.
“I am certainly worried by this development, particularly given the level of threat to aircraft and airport security in Australia’s main airports,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if
AFP presence at these bigger airports has been beefed up by cannibalising from smaller airports with lower risk.”
Aviation expert Ronald Bishop, of Central Queensland University, said Hobart would “most likely” see the AFP return when international flights took off.
Tasmanian Labor senator Carol Brown said it beggared belief that Hobart airport was not AFP-equipped when terminals at Cairns and the Gold Coast were. “The Turnbull
Government has failed to provide one single reason for the lack of federal police officers at the airport,” she said
Tasmanian Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam said the airport should have the safest possible measures in place. “If that means the reinstatement of the AFP then that’s what we should be getting,” he said.
State Labor Leader Rebecca White added her voice to the debate saying Hobart should be treated like every other capital city. “The Federal Liberal Government’s
neglect of Tasmania has been a disgrace,” she said.
Greens immigration spokesman Nick McKim said just “five of the AFP’s 6600 members were based in Tasmania” and the state was being “ripped off”.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan’s office said security experts had determined the AFP’s presence at Hobart airport was unnecessary.
“If Hobart airport’s risk profile changes, the Office of Transport Security will review its security settings accordingly,” a spokesman said.
A spokesman for Hobart airport said it was a decision for the Commonwealth and it would continue working with Tasmania Police.
The AFP said the Office of Transport Security (OTS) was responsible for categorising security-controlled airports.
The OTS has said the AFP withdrew from Hobart airport well before its security needs were officially downgraded.