Qantas Group Chief Security Officer Luke Bramah has responded to allegations made in The Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes in Australia that connected organised crime gangs had infiltrated the airline to facilitate illegal activities such as drug smuggling. The Nine newspapers said its intelligence operation found up to 150 Qantas staff had been linked to criminality.
Bramah said that given Qantas follows all of the Government’s vetting procedures, it finds the claims “disturbing”. He also stated that the airline has not been advised of any current investigations of Qantas Group employees involved in organised crime.
“To be clear, none of Australia’s law enforcement agencies have told us of the existence of a report that suggests there are potentially 150 Qantas employees who have connections to organised crime. Nor have they raised concerns with us about our vetting or background checking processes,” stated Bramah. “We’ve written to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AFP, Border Force and Aviation and Maritime Security seeking details of the report.”
He adds that Qantas is the only commercial airline that holds a Trusted Trader accreditation with Australian Border Force which means every single employee connected to international air freight must pass a fit and proper test. “We’ve not been advised by Border Force of any of our employees failing this test.”
Bramah further calls on the government to continue to strengthen the checks and balances already in place to enhance safeguarding.
“In addition to the criminal checks that happen every two years, we’d like to see real-time background checks which means airlines and airports know immediately if an employee has been convicted of an offence, because it’s another safeguard. We have had positive conversations with the Government about this over a number of years.”