The Australian Government has announced that it will not upgrade airport security in response to the alleged London bomb plot, as the liquid explosive said to be involved would have been detected by equipment here. The Federal cabinet's national security committee decided that measures adopted in Britain and the United States, such as banning liquids and gels on flights, were not required downunder.
Unlike Britain, which does not use explosive trace devices for hand luggage and passengers, Australia does, albeit randomly.
The British 'liquid bomb' is said to be based on an hydrogen peroxide-based formula which Australia says they can monitor.
The comments caught my attention because they follow recent articles which claim that newly required scanning equipment is still sitting in packing cases at major airports. That claim was confirmed by management at Sydney airport who say the equipment will be installed before Christmas.
The vulnerability of internal flights and especially security at regional airports is consistently raised by critics, and just as consistently fobbed off.
From the official Australian response which is at such variance with Britain and the US, there are a couple of conclusions to draw.
First that the Australian government are actually inviting a terrorist attack for reasons which I can't possibly comprehend (but I'm sure I'll be told).
Or alternatively, much of the anti-terrorism carry on is just so much window dressing, used as a cynical political device. That is, the actual risks are small and probably known.
3 comments:
This makes it appear as if the "war on terror" is just an excuse to remove civil liberties and award government contracts to cronies. Why purchase equipment and not use it immediately unless is was bought to line the pockets of some defense contractor?
Lew, I think you hit on it - the WOT is an excuse to remove civil liberties and award gov't contracts to cronies. That and build a permanent Repub majority through the use of fear and loathing. That god this came along so soon after the Cold War ended, eh?
And while airline passengers are being relieved of their bottles of Diet Coke, a college student flew from Buenos Aires to Houston with a Coke bottle containing ammonium nitrate, a half stick of dynamite, a homemade fuse, and a detonator.
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