FORMER prime minister Gough Whitlam has refused to attend an event in Darwin because he believed the extra APEC security at Sydney airport was too heavy and he would be forced to go through unpleasant screening procedures, including taking off his shoes.

Mr Whitlam, 91, said he did not want to put himself through the extra security procedures he believed were in operation.

“I wear orthotics to help me walk, but they would have made me take my shoes off, and I’m buggered if I’m going to do that,” Mr Whitlam told a Sydney newspaper. “Then on my way back, I would have had to travel from Darwin to Brisbane and then to Sydney and go through the security at every stage of the process. Ordinarily, they know me there and they just let me through, but with APEC, they’re going to be extra officious so I decided not to go.”