John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to celebrate an achievement in my electorate and to congratulate the Mildura Rural City Council, which manages the Mildura regional airport. Last night, George Vallance, the airport manager, stood at the convention centre in Cairns and graciously received an award issued to the airport, the Australian Rural Airport of the Year. This is a prestigious award.

The Australian Airports Association is a not-for-profit organisation and celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. It represents the interests of over 260 airports Australia-wide, from local country community landing strips, of which I have a few across my federal division of Mallee, to the major international gateway airports. The charter of the Airports Association is:

... to facilitate co-operation among all member airports and their many and varied partners in Australian aviation, whilst maintaining an air transport system that is safe, secure, environmentally responsible and efficient for the benefit of all Australians.

It is good to see that the association is offering encouragement to airports and I offer congratulations to the member for Wide Bay, because Hervey Bay, which is in his constituency, was awarded the Australian Major Airport of the Year award, so congratulations to the Minister for Trade, the member for Wide Bay, as well.

But I want to talk about Mildura, and particularly the Mildura Airport. The Mildura Rural City Council took over responsibility for the airport decades ago when ownership of regional airports was reshuffled, and they have taken advantage of Mildura’s strategic location. Mildura is located conveniently between three capital cities—Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney—and you can fly out of Mildura every day, and four times a day to Melbourne and return. In the last decade this has achieved massive growth in passenger numbers, servicing about 68,000 a decade ago to 155,000 today and growing by 10 per cent every year. This has put enormous pressure on the Mildura Rural City Council. They have responded—the terminal has already been increased in size on two occasions—and they are now addressing and planning for a third extension as that growth continues.

I want to congratulate Mildura Rural City Council, particularly George Vallance, the airport manager. I know he would have stood last night surprised but honoured. I also congratulate William Forrest AM, who was on the judging panel—and I respond to those constituents who rang me: no, he is no relation, although I wish he was, because he is a very highly paid QC. Congratulations to George and congratulations to the Sunraysia community. (Time expired)

See this speech in context