Courier Trevor Rhodes’ concerns yesterday prompted Albury councillor Henk van de Ven to label the airport’s security screening “stupid” and vow to raise the issue of regional and metropolitan flight safety discrepancies with Federal MP Sussan Ley.

Mr Rhodes left a pocket knife with a 6.5cm blade with security staff at Albury airport earlier this month when he passed through its metal detector to join his wife for a coffee before she boarded a Qantaslink flight.

As per Federal Government regulations, the security guards only worked during the 30-minute window on either side of a Virgin Blue flight; Regional Express and Qantaslink turbo-prop passengers are not routinely subject to screening.

When the guards packed up to leave, they handed Mr Rhodes back his knife, rather than confiscating it.

Mr Rhodes said he was disturbed to have been allowed to have a weapon within the departure lounge area and believed it posed a safety risk for passengers on his wife’s flight. “I could have handed that knife to anyone who was going on that plane,” he said.

Mr Rhodes said the system should be made uniform so passengers travelling on any flight out of Albury were screened before departure.

“They’re only worried about something happening on a plane if it leaves a metropolitan city,” he said.

“They’re treating us as second-class citizens — we’re not getting the same protection as city people.”

Cr van de Ven agreed, hoping a pending Federal Government white paper on the aviation industry would address the irregularities between regional and metropolitan airport security.

“The security is stupid,” he said.

“Either do the job properly or don’t do it at all.

“And if it is to be done properly, it should be funded properly.”

A spokesman for Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the white paper, due to be released by the end of the year, would include a review of all security issues associated with flights in Australia.

The spokesman said the present system worked on a cost-benefit basis, in which the risk of an incident at a regional airport was weighed against the associated increase in ticket prices to fund boosted security.