The Australian Federal Police withdrew from Hobart Airport last year, after cuts were made to its budget, but reassured the state government that they would reassess their presence if the security situation changed.

It has. Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Wynyard are linked into Tullamarine Airport, while airlines using Hobart and Launceston include direct flights to Sydney and Brisbane.

This means that a person who is intent on committing a terrorist attack in the bigger airports or cities can gain access via the soft targets in places like Tasmania. Once they get through local security here they're under the radar everywhere.

Tasmania is not a backwater in terms of risk. We are as much a risk as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin international gateways.

We are not going to accept a downgrading of our protection level simply because of budget cuts. Tasmanians pay their share of federal taxes. Our blood is not a watered-down version of what flows through fellow Australians elsewhere.

Our federal politicians should be demanding that the AFP is instructed to have a presence at airports in Tasmania.

Why should they have a presence at airports in other states but not here. We are not second-class risks. We proportionately deserve the best our security agencies have to offer. Anything less is an insult to all Tasmanians and all visitors who come here.

Police Association president Pat Allen said he was sick of trying to get through to politicians that Hobart Airport, for instance, is a target like any other airport around the world.

That's good enough for us. We don't expect them to protect every terminal in Australia, but, if the AFP and other agencies want to gamble on the risk factor at major Tasmanian airports they can live with any consequences.