Australia goes slow on 100pc air cargo screening for explosives

AUSTRALIAN transport authorities are planning to introduce more stringent measures to screen air cargo carried on passenger flights for explosives, but in a "staged manner," according to the Transport Department in a report by The Australian.

The newspaper said the government had failed to stick to an earlier promise to implement mandatory explosives trace detection (ETD) for all air cargo exports by March 2007.

It said the federal government had also proposed to introduce similar checks on domestic flights in the wake of a 2005 security review by British expert John Wheeler who warned that air cargo could be laden with explosives that would go undetected using existing screening measures.

The newspaper said the Transport Department is not yet prepared to make ETD mandatory for air cargo exports on international flights for fear it will have a negative financial effect on the export industry.

The policy is said to follow a report by the Meyrick and Associates consultancy, which reportedly advised authorities to "find a balance between air cargo security, economic returns and regional viability," and to choose carefully when to introduce ETD, owing to the potential negative effects it could have on the supply chain.