Originally Posted by
guflyer
This article,
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...615-1g43d.html has me really concerned.
I really like flying within Australia and know that there have been other posts about how much better the system in Australia is than that in the U.S. I am really concerned that they may implement these reforms and ruin the flying experience within Australia.
I'm not worried yet. To start with, there was a committee which was asked to report to the government. Of course they're going to propose changes; that's what such committees do. And overall the changes appear mostly harmless.
As I read it, the most significant change being recommended (and at this point it seems to be only a recommendation) is to show photo ID for domestic flights. So there's a long way to go before Australia descends to the US level!!
As VelvetJones said, the scope seems to be on drug trafficking and organized crime, so it's not more intrusive security (NoS, gropings, etc) but rather increased ID matching (increased from a base of zero, BTW).
I imagine it would be the airlines checking the ID at boarding, rather than security at the checkpoint, since currently non-passengers can go airside and they'd have to change that. Sure it's a nuisance (and I don't necessarily support it) but it's not the end of the world.
(The article mentions a few other possible changes - more sniffer dogs and some kind of "profiling." These sound pretty tentative and in particular I think it would be hard to get support for profiling.)