And Transport Official Wants Local Authorities To Help

Union leaders and civil libertarians are in an uproar down under, as the federal government in Australia wants to enlist local police to help enforce mandatory drug tests now proposed for the entire aviation industry.

In spite of the criticism, Transport Minister Warren Truss wants to start testing what he calls "safety sensitive" personnel by the end of the year -- and he wants to use local police officers, under the jurisdiction of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, to help conduct the tests.

"The Attorney-General will be talking to the state police forces with the view to extending their powers so that they are able to also undertake mandatory and random breath testing of people associated with the aviation sector," Truss told Australia's News.com.

Under the plan, five-percent of all pilots, cabin crews, fuel handlers, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, security workers... just about anyone who has behind-the-scenes access to an airport, would be tested each year.

Truss admits he has some privacy concerns... but is more worried about recent surveys that show drugs and alcohol are no strangers to aviation.

"We expect drivers to be free of alcohol and drugs when they are on the road. Surely it's reasonable to expect something similar of pilots," Truss said.

Such testing had been proposed for years... but it was the crash of a charter aircraft in Queensland four years ago, that killed six people, that led the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to recommend drug testing. Toxicology tests on the pilot of that plane indicated he'd used both drugs and alcohol shortly before the flight.

One opponents group said they don't have a problem with drug and alcohol testing, per se... but rather the problem is having the police conduct the tests.

"It would be entirely improper and will provide justified industrial action if people in the airline industry are treated as criminals," said Terry O'Gorman with the Australian Council for Civil Liberties. "Testing should be done by medical authorities because it involves an invasion of people's privacy, and medical authorities are at least more likely to approach the task in a balanced way."

O'Gorman also questioned the need for some workers to be tested. "It's hard to see how baggage handlers could be regarded as safety sensitive employees when all they are doing is lifting baggage off a conveyor belt," he said.

Unions agree with that position, saying police would be better use in preventing terrorism at airports throughout Australia.

"It's got some advantages but it equally has some disadvantages... we want to know what the parameters are and how the process will be introduced," said Laurie Cox, spokesperson for The Australian Federation for Air Pilots (AFAP), which represents about 2,500 pilots throughout the nation. "None of this has been talked about. It has just been legislation by press release."

The Transport Workers Union added to the furor, saying the testing was a "smokescreen" for government inaction on airport security.

But at least one airline approves of the proposal. A spokesman for Qantas says the government program would fit nicely with its existing drug and alcohol screening and education efforts.

FMI: www.casa.gov.au, www.qantas.com