Originally Posted by
Saintly
I thought the rules were that RPT flights with aircraft with a MTOW of 20,000kg (20 tonnes) or more - the airports where those aircraft flew to, they had to have security screening in place.
Unless things and rules have changed since then?
1.2 Aviation Security
The Australian Government is committed to strengthening Australia’s comprehensive and strong
aviation security system to ensure safe and secure air travel. The evolving nature of terrorism
continues to test and shape Australia’s aviation security standards and regulatory settings. The
disrupted terrorist plot at Sydney Airport in July 2017 highlighted the innovation and determination
of individuals seeking to inflict harm on the travelling public. It also reinforced that aviation remains
a high profile and ongoing target for terrorists.
Through the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs), the Government continues to review
security settings in the context of evolving threats and, if required, adjusts security settings
accordingly. In 2018, to keep ahead of the evolving threat environment, the Government
announced that major and regional airports will upgrade their security screening technology.
Once implemented, Home Affairs estimates that 99 per cent, or 80.5 million departing passengers,
will depart from an airport which undertakes security screening with X-ray advanced technology
and body scanners.
Home Affairs applies security settings in the aviation sector based on its assessment of the level of
security risk at each airport, and the aircraft it hosts. Home Affairs works to ensure that security
requirements are commensurate with risk, particularly in regional areas, where security costs are
generally higher. Based on the evolving threat, Home Affairs is amending the security screening
threshold from aircraft over 20,000 kg maximum take-off weight (MTOW) to aircraft with seating capacity of 40 or more and which operate from an airport with more than 30,000 annual departing
passengers. One result of a screening threshold based on aircraft size (weight or seating capacity), is that
airports may have some flights which require screening and some flights which do not require screening. Home Affairs, in consultation with aviation industry stakeholders, is continuing to consider the issues associated with managing the segregation of screened and unscreened passengers. This is a contentious issue for industry stakeholders, with conflicting views on the best regulatory
approach, noting different approaches can cause significant variation in the cost implications for different stakeholders. Some stakeholders suggest spreading fixed costs across a broader passenger base would minimise passenger impacts, while other stakeholders argue additional
costs for operators of smaller aircraft impact the viability of their operations. Costs associated with
managing potential co-mingling of screened and unscreened passengers are also relevant
considerations.
Airports must implement security screening in accordance with regulatory requirements. An airport
may choose to implement security arrangements beyond the regulatory requirement, such as
screening all passengers, even when not required by the regulator. Business decisions like this are
a matter for the airport, although stakeholders presented strong and divergent views on the merits
of this approach.
The challenge is to maintain the integrity of the entire aviation security network while recognising
the differences in risk across international and major domestic aviation operations in comparison to
regional and remote aviation. Maintaining a risk based, proportionate security framework is critical
to ensuring public confidence in aviation and to support a viable and sustainable regional aviation
industry.
It has been a longstanding policy of successive governments that industry is responsible for the
cost of security, including operating costs, although some stakeholders have queried the long term
sustainability of this approach. The majority of regional airports required to upgrade screening
equipment already conduct security screening and are responsible for managing the associated
costs.
The Australian Government has committed $50.1m through the Regional Airport Security
Screening Fund to support the purchase of new screening equipment at eligible regional airports.
Document from 2019 - Reference: Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development: Passenger Security Acreening Enhancements - Case Studies on financial impacts at 6 regional airports