By Craig Donaldson

Huge changes have been touted for airport security in Australia, but technology alone will not plug all of the holes.

In 2005 the landmark Wheeler Report issued a damning assessment of security at Australian airports. It found that there were serious flaws in airport security policices and practices: security systems were “typically uncoordinated”, policing at main airports was “often inadequate and dysfunctional” and an overall culture of “lax security or petty criminality” provided opportunities for “terrorists to exploit weaknesses in airport security”.

Commissioned by the Federal Government, British security expert Sir John Wheeler said in his report, “Bluntly put, in the everyday workings of airports, no one is taking overall charge of policing and security”.

Five years on, airport security is no less contentious an issue. MORE>>

Read the full report: Airport safety – who’s protecting us? [PDF]