Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment (Mutual Recognition with New Zealand) Bill 2005 heralds a new era for aviation arrangements between Australia and New Zealand. It gives effect to a joint commitment between Australia and New Zealand for mutual recognition of air operator certificates, AOCs, for aircraft with more than 30 seats or weighing more than 15,000 kilograms. It also fulfils a joint commitment made under the 2002 Australia-New Zealand open skies agreement. In a nutshell, this bill nullifies the requirement for airline operators to hold an airline operator certificate in both Australia and New Zealand if they want to operate services in both countries. To my way of thinking, that makes eminent sense. I am a bit perplexed at why the opposition is so concerned about it. Australia and New Zealand have long enjoyed a shared history, a shared sense of values and a shared commitment to a future partnership, and that has a lot to do with trade—

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