Hodgman fights for AFP officers

PREMIER Will Hodgman has pledged to continue pushing for the return of Australian Federal Police officers to the Hobart International Airport after meeting state and territory leaders.

“I will always fight very hard to ensure that the island state has the best possible security systems and supports in place,” Mr Hodgman said after a Council of Australian Government’s meeting in Canberra yesterday.

“That includes, of course, at the Hobart International Airport and I look forward to the outcome of a review into the nation’s airports and to see what we can do to not only improve security at that central port for the island state, but also to continue to argue very strongly, as I will continue to do, for an AFP presence at that airport.”

Leaders also agreed to a Federal Government request to hand over the images of every Tasmanian with a driver’s licence for a nationwide biometric facial recognition and matching system.

“I think on behalf of all jurisdictions there is uniform commitment to increase our efforts and increase our processes and strengthen our laws,” Mr Hodgman said.

“We are very mindful of and respectful for issues of privacy but fundamentally we have a principal obligation to ensure that our communities are safer.”

Twenty seven AFP officers were removed from Hobart airport by the Government in 2015.

As recently as August, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull argued a threat assessment showed that from a threat point of view Hobart airport did not warrant AFP officers.

A review of security at all regional airports is being done and next year Hobart will be capable of hosting international flights.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has pledged a return of AFP officers if Labor wins the next election.

Premiers and chief minis- ters agreed to nationally consistent laws to allow police to hold terror suspects without charge for up to a fortnight.

Police Minister Rene Hidding said there were robust access provisions in place as to who, how and why an individual’s images may be checked to confirm identity.

“There are also safeguards in place to protect personal information from misuse,” Mr Hidding said.

“The system has been developed through stringent independent privacy assessments and has involved consultation with privacy commissioners, ombudsmen and Tasmanian Police.

He said there would be no change in having a photo taken for a driver’s licence, and it would be saved and stored in the same way.

Mr Hidding said the system would come online next year with more information provided before its start.

“This is an important move to help prevent innocent individuals and businesses becoming victims of identity fraud through organised crime or becoming unwittingly used in breaches of security,” he said.

But Greens justice spokesman Nick McKim said Labor and Liberal leaders had failed to make the case.

“Creating a massive database of people’s photographs is a privacy invasion that creates a honey pot for hackers,” Senator McKim said.