George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The motion before us is nothing more than a scare campaign and an old one at that. It suggests that aviation firefighting services are going to be removed from a number of airports in my electorate: Hamilton Island and Proserpine. But I note that the speech that was delivered was pretty different to the motion that's before us, and that's because the member has realised that both those claims are false. They were false two years ago, and they're still false today.

The previous minister for transport, the member for Gippsland, published a media release on 16 December 2016, and these were the key points:

The minister went on to say:

The Australian Government has no plans to close ARFFS at regional airports. In relation to existing ARFFS locations at our regional airports, these will continue to operate under current arrangements, which is appropriate as several of these ARFFS operations and facilities have only been established in the last few years.

It can't be clearer than that. Existing services, including those at Proserpine and Hamilton Island, will remain untouched. So claims in this motion about losing services at many different places—Ballina, Coffs Harbour, Ayers Rock, Gladstone, Broome, Karratha, Newman, Port Hedland and Hamilton Island—are all hogwash. It's a scare campaign which was debunked more than two years ago.

As far as Proserpine's Whitsunday Coast Airport is concerned, the shadow minister has claimed in this motion that any change would preclude the establishment of firefighting services at that airport. Again, it's not true. The establishment of services at Proserpine is already in progress. I understand the case is being presented to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority this very week. The process will see services established at Proserpine, making it an existing service. As such, that service will be grandfathered if any regulatory changes are made. So there's no problem.

Passenger movements at the Whitsunday Coast Airport have already reached 350,000. They're soon going to pass 500,000, with the airport forecasting 900,000 passenger movements a year by 2035. I'm very proud to say that the Whitsunday Coast Airport, which is the Proserpine airport, not only is the fastest growing airport in my electorate but is recognised as one of the fastest growing airports in the whole country. Its growth is a reflection of the quality tourism we're offering in the Whitsundays and the good economic management and vision exhibited by the owners of the airport, the Whitsunday Regional Council. I pay tribute to Mayor Andrew Willcox for that. This vision includes a push for international flights into the airport, which would provide an automatic trigger for the provision of aviation rescue and firefighting services anyway.

When this issue was first raised, the aviation branch of the United Firefighters Union of Australia contacted me with their concerns about the regulatory policy review consultation paper and I had a look into it. The union, in its submission to that paper, was the only stakeholder that was against those changes, and they asked me for my support in lobbing against the changes on the grounds that services and jobs would be lost locally. I agree with those sentiments. I don't want to see any local jobs lost. In fact, I want to see jobs created through an expanding airport, aviation and tourism industry. I also didn't want to see safety services cut at any of my airports, especially one predominantly serving the tourism market. As a result, I sought assurances way back then—several years ago, two elections ago—from the then minister for transport that services would not be cut. At that time, I was assured by the minister, publicly, that those services would not be cut. For whatever reason, we've had the Labor Party come in here and try to breathe life into a badly beaten scare campaign. I once against sought assurances from the new minister this very morning as to what is going on. I am told that the same assurances I was given then are alive now. The policy has not changed.

This motion is a sham, but I will agree with one point in it, and that is the first point. I do support the vital work that is being performed each and every day by highly trained professionals providing aviation, rescue and firefighting services on Hamilton Island and elsewhere around this country—and the ones who will come onboard in Proserpine. They ensure the safety of the flying public. For tourism based airports, such as the Whitsunday Coast Airport and Hamilton Island Airport, that is critical. These individuals do a great job providing important services. They deserve better than being told that they're going to lose their jobs as part of some scare campaign, because they are not. Hamilton Island aviation firefighting services are safe, and aviation firefighting services will be established at Proserpine. They continue to do a great job, and I support the government's stance to keep those jobs.

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