Aussie tech company streamlines high-level security protocols for ASEAN-Australia Summit

Australian tech company EventsAir provided the highest level of accreditation and access control to assist streamlining security at the recent ASEAN-Australia Summit in Melbourne for the 12 heads of state and the thousands of support staff and participants of the three-day meeting, 4-6 March. Prime minister Anthony Albanese’s hosting of leaders from Lao PDR, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste required some of the tightest security measures ever required in the country. Diplomats, academics, officials, media, police, and on-site staff swelled attendee numbers to over 6,500, all of whom had to be accredited before having access to the locked-down Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (MCEC). Ten EventsAir team members worked alongside the ASEAN Task Force since July 2023 to review and process every approved attendee and then issue secure credentials to provide streamlined access to the MCEC, while maintaining the high security perimeter. EventsAir CEO, Chris Ridd, said: “On-site we provided photo ID security passes to all attendees which had a radio-frequency identification (RFID) mechanism embedded in them, allowing us to be able to rapidly validate attendees as they entered the MCEC and accessed restricted areas,” he said. “Prior to entering the building, ASEAN attendees walked through RFID gates or were scanned by mobile RFID readers and their bona fides were instantly confirmed. This was all managed through the EventsAir platform.” The ASEAN-Australia Summit was Australia’s largest meeting of world leaders held in Australia in the past five years.” Brisbane-based EventsAir, which also has offices in London and New York, is an all-in-one event management platform and has powered 350,000+ complex events.