Originally Posted by
rjtjrt
My point was rally polies should insist we have trooping flights on first world mainline carriers.
As a further aside. Unless you re a nuclear power don't need secure coms for PM. It is a wank for PM to say they "need" secure coms 24/7.
Cabinet ministers working overseas need access to intelligence briefings, diplomatic cables, secure voice facilities etc, to allow them to do their primary job overseas of negotiating and dealing with foreign governments. They also need the ability to communicate with their staff and members of the government back in Australia without the local intelligence services listening in.
Those facilities are usually available within Australian diplomatic posts, but that doesn't help much if the pollies are travelling somewhere those facilities are not available. So the most secure, and next best place to have those facilities is aboard the aircraft on which they're travelling.