Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee is being investigated by his own officials in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for avoiding a security check at Christchurch Airport, Radio New Zealand reports.
Brownlee says he was running late for a flight on Thursday morning and asked an airport staff member to let him and two staffers through a short-cut, thus avoiding security checks at the airport. They went through an exit door rather than through security - a breach of airport and airline rules.
He said he did not put any pressure on that person to do so.
“We knocked on the door and I said to the guy, ‘Look, we're in a terrible hurry, can we get through here?’ He said okay. In reality, I should never have done that . It's not that guy's fault - I'm the one to blame here.”
CAA director Graeme Harris says in a statement the primary focus of its investigation would be to determine the facts of the incident and take action to prevent something like this happening again.
