Airport Security Must be Tight, but not Ridiculous

Thursday 27 Dec 2001 Penny Webster Press Releases -- Transport

Airport security should be tight, but within the bounds of common sense, ACT Transport Spokesman MP Penny Webster said today.

"We need to make sure New Zealand airports are adequately covering the basics. Over-the-top searches are not going to help.

"The recent international arrest of a man with bombs in his shoes highlights far more important lessons than the necessity of checking every single pair of shoes before passengers can board.

"The basics were missed in France, which is how a terrorist managed to get on board.

"Putting every passenger's shoes through an X-Ray on American flights is not going to help if our airports aren't checking the basics.

"All shoe-checks add are unnecessary delay and embarrassment. If a terrorist can fit a bomb into a pair of shoes, there's no reason why he can't put it somewhere else in his clothing. Taken to its extreme, every passenger would have to strip naked before boarding. That's obviously not the solution to the current climate of fear. Instead, we need to ensure that our airports are taking care of basic security, without going overboard and upsetting people," Mrs Webster said.

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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