Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mallee for bringing forward this very important motion. I just want to take the member for Gilmore up on a little point she made about Labor representing more regional electorates. I think, if you look at the actual landmass, the actual geographical size of the electorates that the coalition—the Liberal and National parties—represent would far exceed what the Labor Party represents.

You have to be honest in politics. I will give a speech now that you would never hear from those opposite. Since my time in parliament—15 years—there have been two people who I know have really understood aviation. It's a complicated sector. It's a detailed industry that requires people who not only get it but love it. The two people foremost in that regard are Warren Truss, the previous member for Wide Bay, and Anthony Albanese, the current prime minister. They actually fully understand aviation and the complexities of making sure that aviation is well supported in this place. I worked closely with the Prime Minister when I was the transport minister, and I thank him for the role he played, with me, to ensure that we had an aviation sector that was viable, because that industry operates on very thin margins.

We saw what happens when those thin margins turn into disaster. It happened with Rex. They tried to take on the capital city to capital city routes. It was never going to work for a regional airline that was internationally acclaimed for servicing country people. They say in their logo, 'Our heart is in the country,' and it should have remained thus. But they tried to take on the big boys on particularly the Melbourne to Sydney route, and it was never going to work—never, ever going to work. Good luck to them for trying, but it then required the bailout, and I do thank the government—the Labor government—for ensuring that that bailout occurred. I had any number of conversations with the Prime Minister and the transport minister, the member for Ballarat, in relation to this. There is more work to be done. Yes, Air T have come on board—we respect that process—and it was a big sigh of relief.

I am very concerned that the Australian Airline Pilot Academy on Don Kendell Drive, as you drive into Wagga Wagga Airport, has gone to Ballarat. That academy is training pilots for the future. But they should be trained at Wagga Wagga where they've got the simulator, where they've got the accommodation, where they've got the facility and where they also have, just across the way, the hangar for maintaining the Saab aircraft for Rex, the Saab 340s. That hangar alone puts $12 million into the Wagga Wagga economy. It is perfectly set up and—a parochial call—it needs to be back at Wagga Wagga, not in Ballarat. Also, Wagga Wagga City Council is $210,000 in the red—up the gurgler—because of the Rex situation.

The government needs to work through with the new owner what is happening to the creditors. That is a big concern, and it is a big concern not just for Wagga Wagga. We just heard the member for Mallee talking about her home town of Mildura.

It is vital that we have country air services. Many, many people have said to me, 'Oh, but why should the government prop up a regional airline?' Well, why shouldn't they? These people are all city types—you know the ones—who think that it's okay for a free bus to go to and from accommodation and the SCG or the MCG or wherever they might be happening to play a big sporting event but don't think twice about country people.

I have to say this became a matter of life and death. Without the air services, without Rex flying in, those in one-airline towns of Parkes and Narrandera and Ceduna in South Australia couldn't meet their medical appointments in a capital city. They couldn't get the doctors and the health professionals and the vaccines and the nurses out to the regional and remote areas. The government understood that, and they acted and they did so responsibly. I say that as a member who understands how important aviation is not just to the regional economy but to regional people and their health concerns.

But there is more work to be done. The government needs to be on the front foot with this. I commend them for what they've done so far, but there is, as I say, more work to be done through this process. The new airline is going to require some assistance—some help, some expertise and some support—and I'm sure that the Prime Minister will provide that. He understands the situation—I thank him for it—but there's still a lot more work to be done before we see blue skies ahead.

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