AVSEC said it’s spoken to Qantas to reassure the company the matter’s being dealt with appropriately.
A spokesperson for the CAA and AVSEC told Newshub the mistake was a “human error” and all staff are given “sufficient and intensive training” and “regular competency assessments”.
The spokesperson said the staff member linked to the incident has received “additional training and competency tests”, and there was an investigation and disciplinary process.
In the 12 months to April 30, AVSEC identified 51 “screening failures” – where dangerous goods were not picked up, it said.
The agency said that’s equivalent to 1.9 failures per every 1 million bags screened.
Airline Pilots’ Association president Andrew McKeen said the concern in this case is the highly flammable nature of petrol.
“The fumes from petrol could fill the cargo space and then you only need an innocuous source of ignition for there to be potentially serious consequences,” he told Newshub.
King said the prohibited items passed through multiple areas where they should have been discovered, including at check in, during interactions with the passenger and during scanning.
“What it’s saying to me is that the education systems and the awareness systems are not robust.”
But she doesn’t think the staff member facing disciplinary action is solely to blame.
“You don’t slam dunk the guy at the end of the chain. You work out where all the systemic failures are and you address it.”
She said that should start with more visible displays of what constitutes prohibited items.
Chainsaws, for example, can be checked in – but not when they’re full of fuel.