The Transport Workers Union today welcomed the Federal Government’s Counter Terrorism Whitepaper, saying corporate Australia also needed to heed international warnings and strengthen security.

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Transport Workers Union national secretary, Tony Sheldon, said the current parliamentary inquiry into aviation security revealed flaws in the system, with national airline Qantas admitting employees could misuse their position to conduct terrorism activities.

“For our airports, we need to see the end of the culture of outsourcing work and the real dependence on labour hire. This allows almost anyone to gain access to the most sensitive parts of our airports to do as they wish,” Mr Sheldon said.

“This paper warns that terrorism is permanently on Australia’s radar and we need to keep on top of it.

“We now have evidence that the threat of home-grown terrorism is a constant. We can’t just be screening people who want to come here, but also those who work in sensitive industries in Australia.

“At last week’s inquiry, we put forward a proposal which called for the ASIC-like security screening of contractors to the Department of Defence. This came after research showed a large number of removalist contractors were from unknown backgrounds, and were untrained and underpaid - going into the home address of serving defence families, including the SAS.

“Unless these steps are taken we will see continuing high risk across these industries, the broader community and the economy. We have been warned and now we need to act,” Mr Sheldon said.