Governor General Quentin Bryce: set off alarm at airport security screening area.
SHE might be the Queen's representative in Australia but Quentin Bryce has discovered the job doesn't come with all the boss's perks.
The Governor-General was involved in a weekend security incident at Brisbane Airport after she went through a checkpoint without the usual clearance - something only the Queen and the Pope can do.
Ms Bryce was travelling privately when she set off alarms at Qantas's security screening area on Saturday afternoon.
The Courier-Mail has been told the female officer-in-charge of walk-throughs directed the Governor-General to go through the checkpoint again, leading to a hostile exchange between the officer and Ms Bryce's own security from Australian Federal Police.
Throughout the exchange Ms Bryce remained silent, according to airport sources.
She was then escorted from the screening area by the AFP agent while the female security guard was temporarily moved to "other duties" by her manager.
Transport Workers Union branch secretary Peter Biagini said it was "an absolute disgrace this employee was disciplined for enforcing the law".
The officer was reinstated to her position a short time later.
The Governor-General was later found by security in the Qantas' Chairman's Lounge where special clearance was given for her to fly.
A Qantas spokesman declined to comment on the incident but said the airline's policy was the same for all passengers.
She said all passengers must be cleared by security before boarding a Qantas flight.
The acting official secretary to the Governor-General, Mark Fraser, said Ms Bryce was travelling privately and Government House had no comment to make.
An AFP spokeswoman said Ms Bryce and AFP officers complied with all security requests.
"The AFP believes officers acted appropriately in this matter," she said.
Ms Bryce was Queensland's Governor before her federal appointment in 2008 and it is not her first travel controversy.
In 2009 her office came under fire for spending $700,000 on an 18-day African trip.
COMMENT: Why doesn't Jim Carden from the Brisbane Airport Corporation step in and show some testicular fortitude and sort out this mess. After all, it's his Airport which is in the spotlight over this debacle. Treating the Australian Governor-General like a potential terrorist is nothing short of outrageous.
