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| Down Under |
| Air deal to finance sky guards |
| 2003-12-25 |
| EFL - ARMED sky marshals could be flying to Singapore from Australia today, after Qantas and the Howard Government agreed yesterday to share the cost. Canberra and the airline will split the cost of $10million a year to pay for up to two sky marshals on planes leaving for Singapore, and a similar deal with the US could be in operation next year. Under the domestic flights scheme already running, Qantas meets the full cost, and the federal Government had hoped the funding arrangement would continue for international flights. But the Government was forced to back down to deliver on promises it made in the aftermath of both the September 11 and Bali attacks. Customs Minister Chris Ellison said the agreement was the first of its kind for Australia. As part of the agreement, Singapore has secured the right to have its own air marshals flying into Australia on Singapore Airlines flights. The federal Government has been promising to put sky marshals on international flights for more than a year, but has been criticised for being slow to deliver. Senator Ellison said the Government had now fulfilled one of its election promises and would look to expand the international sky marshal program. Senator Ellison said Singapore was one of the busiest destinations and was strategically important in the fight against terror. I’ve been wondering for while whether one of consequences of the WOT will be progressively closer relationships and commercial links with trusted parties and a distancing of relationships with un-trusted parties. And BTW, I like this consequence. I was and still am deeply distrustful of the tranzis and multi-nationalism. |
| Posted by:phil_b |