COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Official Committee Hansard HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL SERVICES Reference: Commercial regional aviation services in Australia and alternative transport links to major populated islands WEDNESDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2003 TULLAMARINE BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES INTERNET The Proof and Official Hansard transcripts of Senate committee hearings, some House of Representatives committee hearings and some joint com- mittee hearings are available on the Internet. Some House of Representa- tives committees and some joint committees make available only Official Hansard transcripts. The Internet address is: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard To search the parliamentary database, go to: http://search.aph.gov.au HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL SERVICES Wednesday, 26 February 2003 Members: Mr Neville (Chair), Mr Andren, Mr Gibbons, Mr Haase, Mrs Ley, Mr McArthur, Mr Mossfield, Ms O’Byrne, Mr Schultz and Mr Secker Members in attendance: Mr Gibbons, Mr McArthur, Mr Neville, Ms O’Byrne and Mr Secker Terms of reference for the inquiry: To inquire into and report on: Commercial regional aviation services in Australia and alternative transport links to major populated islands. WITNESSES BARBER, Mr William Garfield Thomas, Investment Manager, Latrobe City...................................... 175 BREWSTER, Councillor Geoffrey David, Mayor, King Island Council................................................. 260 DUBOIS, Mr Michael, Chairman, New South Wales Division, Australian Airports Association ........ 224 FORTE, Mr Andrew, Chairman, Western Australian Division, Australian Airports Association ...... 224 GRAHAM, Councillor Neil Raymond, Councillor, King Island Council................................................ 260 KEARNS, Mr Nicholas Peter, Strategic Planner, East Gippsland Shire Council .................................. 249 KEECH, Mr Ken, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Airports Association........................................ 224 KELLER, Mr John David, Group Manager, Infrastructure, Glenelg Shire Council............................ 187 MacGILLIVRAY, Ms Lorraine Ann, General Manager, Edge Aviation................................................ 197 MARTIN, Mr Paddy, BEM, JP, Chairman, Tasmanian Division, Australian Airports Association..................................................................................................................................................... 224 McARDLE, Mr John, JP, National Chairman, Australian Airports Association .................................. 224 McDONALD, Mr Don, Chairman, Northern Territory Division, Australian Airports Association .... 224 MILLER, Mr David, Executive Manager, Economic Development, Southern Grampians Shire ........ 242 MOORE, Mr John Brendan, Treasurer and Foundation Member, Champions of the Bush Inc......... 213 PIPER, Mr David, Deputy National Chairman, Australian Airports Association................................. 224 PRATT, Mr Robert Arthur, Managing Director, Island Airlines Tasmania.......................................... 281 WATKINS, Councillor Bill, OAM, Chairman, South Australian Division, Australian Airports Association..................................................................................................................................................... 224 Wednesday, 26 February 2003 REPS TRANS & REG SERV 175 Committee met at 9.03 a.m. BARBER, Mr William Garfield Thomas, Investment Manager, Latrobe City CHAIR—I declare open this public hearing of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services in its inquiry into commercial regional aviation services in Australia and transport links to major populated islands. Today’s hearing is part of the committee’s program of visits and hearings in different parts of Australia. On Monday the committee held hearings at Launceston. Yesterday the committee travelled to Flinders Island for public hearings. In today’s public hearing we will hear evidence in relation to submissions from local government, non-government organisations and business operators from Victoria and from King Island in Tasmania. I now formally welcome the representative of the Latrobe City council who is known to me from an earlier manifestation. Mr Barber—Thank you, Mr Chair. CHAIR—Mr Barber, although the committee does not require you to take evidence on oath, I have to advise you that these are formal proceedings of the parliament and consequently they warrant the same attention as would attend to the House itself. It is customary to remind witnesses that the giving of false or misleading evidence is a serious matter and could be regarded as a contempt of the parliament. Having said that, you are most welcome. I would now like you to give a five to seven minute overview of your submission and then we will move to questions. Mr Barber—It is important that I give you an update because we have moved on, fortunately, in the regional airline area, particularly in the area of Latrobe City where we do now have a regional air service. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you. Mayor Tony Hanning and Chief Executive Officer Richard Hancock have also asked me to convey their best wishes to the committee and to thank you on their behalf for allowing me to attend this meeting today. I am sure you are aware of the size of Australia. It is about the same size as continental United States and demographically we have the population of Los Angeles. You, like me, have travelled all over Australia and are aware of the importance of airlines generally. It can be argued that people do not have to live in rural and regional areas, but the state and federal governments are trying to get people to move out of metropolitan areas into regional areas and, therefore, infrastructure is very important in relation to being able to travel to and from locations. I was in Western Australia last week at places like Geraldton and Bunbury and I would never have been able to do that if not for the opportunity to travel by air. As you indicated, we have met each other on previous occasions. From a regional airline and regional business investment perspective, working with councils, I have worked in south western New South Wales, based in Griffith, in Central Queensland, based in Gladstone and in far western Victoria, based in Edenhope. I have also been down to Tasmania and undertook similar work, including attendance at the air inquiry which took place about this time two years ago when Impulse Airlines had been flying into Tasmania for one month, I think. In more recent times I have worked for the last 1½ years in the Latrobe Valley. TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL SERVICES TRANS & REG SERV 176 REPS Wednesday, 26 February 2003 People living in rural areas appreciate the fact that there are additional expenses of living there, whether it be the cost of freight or food, and that is part of living in regional and rural Australia. It is important also to appreciate that the infrastructure, which includes travel and access, is very important. I believe that regional airlines form part of that umbrella of support mechanisms for regional and, indeed, remote Australia. Regional Australia often feels abandoned by governments, both state and federal, because of where it is. This is obviously manifested in parts of regional and rural Australia which are devoid of RPT—regular passenger transport services. This was particularly felt very hard after the collapse of Ansett. In my area, we had Hazelton Airlines flying out of Latrobe City to Albury with connections on to Sydney. Of course, we lost that service. During the time that the air services were in administration we had no service at all running in that direction. We were the only airport outside New South Wales where Hazelton were operating. The New South Wales government had been subsidising Hazelton air services, as you may remember, but because we were in Victoria our service was lost. It was not until we managed to get hold of an air service, which in this case was Regional Express—Rex—to fly into our part of the world that we then had a service resumed. In my original submission, I indicated that the air service was from Melbourne to Merimbula via Latrobe City with some connections on to Sydney. I should indicate that that was an interim service started up until we tried and were able to get an appropriate service. We now have a service six days a week direct from Latrobe City, departing at 6.30 a.m, 7.30 a.m. into Canberra and then on to Sydney through 8.45 a.m. It is an excellent service which runs Monday to Saturday. From Sunday to Friday, you can fly out of Sydney at 5.40 p.m, arrive in Canberra, leave about seven o’clock and be in Latrobe City at 8 p.m. We are very grateful for that service. My council asked me, as the person responsible at that time for tourism and looking for new business, to find an air service. We immediately set about doing that. As a result, obviously contacts were made with a number of organisations, including Australiawide Airlines, which later became Regional Express. I would have to say, if we had not done that as a council, we would not have got a service. There was no help from either state or Commonwealth governments financially or otherwise. Although I must say that any time I requested a meeting in Canberra of the Commonwealth through DOTARS, or alternatively through the state government, I was always granted a meeting. I sometimes