Security agencies considered digging a channel similar to a moat around Parliament House as part of a controversial security overhaul, Fairfax Media can reveal.
The embankment, technically called a "berm" and commonly used as a defence against tanks, would have encircled the building as a way to keep vehicles off the hill.
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Parliamentary fence divides Senate
Even though few MPs relish restricting public access to parliament, the debate raged on in the Senate chamber.
According to Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm, and confirmed by other senators, the ditches were at one stage being seriously considered by security agencies but were abandoned in favour of a controversial 2.6 metre fence across the front lawns.
"They were going to be big channels dug around Parliament House. They would have been vegetated," Senator Leyonhjelm told Fairfax Media. "We made jokes about them being tank traps. I think the risk they were being aimed at was truck bombs.
"There was a stage at which the berms were a serious contender for increasing external security. Then they came off the agenda. No one ever told me why they were dropped – they must have come up with some technical problem."
Berms are typically low in height and can run alongside a waterway such as a ditch or moat. They provide an effective barrier to vehicles, such as tanks or trucks, but in most cases are easily crossed by foot. The berm idea is said to have caused quite a stir among MPs who attended the briefings.
Senator Leyonhjelm described the proposal as "like a moat". He said it was discussed before the July election and was among a number of much more serious security proposals that could have severely restricted the public's access to Parliament House.
One of those was the construction of a "more substantial perimeter", he said, that would have installed a "big steel fence" about 100 metres from the building. Currently, any member of the public can drive around Parliament House or walk atop the building toward the roof.
That will change when work commences this summer on a 2.6 metre fence that will cut across the lawns and limit public access. The $60 million security blitz has angered architects and a slew of MPs who believe the changes are unnecessary and go too far.
Asked about the berms, a spokesman for the Department of Parliamentary Services told Fairfax Media:Â "A range of proposals have been considered over the past 12 months and the security enhancements which were tabled in Parliament last week are those that appropriately balanced the requirement to maintain the security of the building and its occupants with the continued open access to the many visitors who come to Parliament House each year."
Authorities have already confirmed there will be no public consultation about the fence, citing national security concerns. Nor will detailed plans or blueprints be made public. MPs were briefed by slideshow without physical documents that could be copied or leaked.
Senator Leyonhjelm, who voted in favour of the fence, said it was a less severe option than others that had been canvassed. "It's a moderate-risk solution not a low-risk solution, and the low-risk solution had been discussed," he said.
Only the Greens and Victorian senator Derryn Hinch opposed the plan, which passed Parliament in the final sitting week of the year.
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