The federal opposition has put people's lives at risk by making public a leaked document showing air security services are being wound back, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor says.
Shadow attorney-general George Brandis on Tuesday made public a leaked classified Australian Federal Police (AFP) document that revealed the air marshals program would no longer cover all of Australia's 11 major airports from next year.
Mr O'Connor said on Wednesday the AFP commissioner Tony Negus would investigate the leak and would determine if it should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He said the government had cut $16.5 million from aviation security in this year's budget, but would not detail how the cut would affect air security officer services.
"We will continue to have air security officers both on domestic and international flights, but of course for national security and operational reasons we would never disclose which flights and how many officers at what time" Mr O'Connor said.
He said while the government had made the $16.5 million budget cut, it had put $200 million into improving other air security measures, such as securing cockpits, increasing firearms and explosive dog teams and having the AFP taking full responsibility for securing airports.
"A $16.5 million cut to aviation security in the budget papers, but of course a $200 million increase in other areas," he said.
Senator Brandis was putting lives at risk by making the leaked AFP document public, he said.
"The shadow attorney-general relied upon a stolen document to disclose operational matters that may well endanger the lives of AFP officers and the travelling public," he said.
"This is playing politics with national security."
The air security officer program was introduced after the 2001 September 11 attacks.
It puts armed, undercover security personnel on planes to guard against terrorist attacks.
News Limited has cited AFP documents stating that it is reducing its number of air security officers, locations and deployment on domestic flights because of the $16.5 million cut.
