Jim Turnour (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about the Torres Strait, a great part of my electorate that I enjoy visiting. The time that I spend in the Torres Strait is invaluable. This is a very special part of the world, and I am proud to represent, in Canberra, the region. The local community is passionate and proactive, and I appreciate hearing firsthand from locals about the issues that are important to them. Residents and businesses in the Torres Strait have endured some tumultuous times over the last few weeks.

On Friday, 3 October, Lip-Air, which trades as Aero-Tropics, was grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority as they had determined there were serious risks to the safety of travelling passengers. Aero-Tropics was the only provider of regular scheduled services in the Torres Strait. The decision to ground Aero-Tropics occurred at approximately 4 pm on that Friday afternoon, at the end of the school holidays. This was the second time in a matter of months that CASA had taken action to ground Aero-Tropics. While I believe the safety of passengers is the No. 1 priority, one cannot ignore the impact this has had on the Torres Strait community and it was particularly frustrating that it happened late on a Friday afternoon. Children were preparing to return to school and there was a wedding and a ‘tomb stone opening’ on Thursday Island, meaning that many people were stranded by the grounding.

In the immediate aftermath of the grounding, my electorate office on Thursday Island worked hard to assist local residents. I have been made aware of cases where entire families were stranded and unable to return to their home island. Some families arrived with only a small amount of cash then found themselves needing accommodation and food while they tried to source alternative ways of getting home. However, these problems were quickly overcome through the work of many in the community who rallied round to help those in need. My hat goes off to the Torres Strait community. I know that local motel businesses, councillors and family members have all been working together to ensure that people have been looked after and have been able to access flights as quickly as possible. Barrier Aviation, another charter airline in the tropical north, have also been accommodating in their efforts, but they are not a scheduled carrier of passengers in the Torres Strait region. This has been an unfortunate situation but it has demonstrated some of the great benefits of living in a supportive community such as that in the Torres Strait.

On being alerted to the grounding, I immediately started working with ministers and their offices to ensure that disruptions were minimised and to try and get replacement services back into the region as quickly as possible. The response from the federal ministers and their government departments has been appreciated. Centrelink has assisted approximately 249 students across various islands to return to school. Within a matter of a few days, the majority were rescheduled onto other charters and were back at school for the start of a new school term. For those remaining, additional alternative flights were arranged and all were at their desks within the following week.

Last week I met with the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, and discussed at length the impact of Lip-Air’s grounding on residents and businesses in the Torres Strait. Since the grounding, I have maintained daily contact with the minister’s office to ensure the government continues to do all it can to minimise disruption and get services back to the region. Soon after hearing about CASA’s decision to ground Lip-Air, I spoke with the Mayor of the Torres Strait Island Regional Council, Mr Fred Gela, about the local situation. He has written formally to me seeking assistance in getting air services back to the Torres Strait, and I spoke to his CEO last week. I know the state government is working hard to attract replacement air services in the Torres Strait. I am willing to assist any operator interested in establishing a service in the Torres Strait and to facilitate any meetings that they need to have if they are having difficulty arranging them. It is critical that all levels of government work together to minimise any further disruption to the community.

CASA is an independent authority and needs to, at all times, put safety considerations first. I understand that there were serious incidents that led to this grounding. It is critical that it responds quickly, however, in assessing applications from any alternative operators so that we can get air services back to the Torres Strait. I understand how important air services are to remote communities. I represent a very large and vast electorate and I rely on such travel when I visit its regions. I will be doing all I can to limit the impact of this grounding on residents of the Torres Strait region.

The remoteness of the Torres Strait means that local residents face a number of different challenges when compared to those residents of metropolitan or regional communities. We all know that across the country at the moment people are struggling with the rising cost of living. After the car has been filled up, the mortgage and other bills have been paid and the grocery shopping has been done, there is not a whole lot left. Imagine what it would be like if your grocery bill were almost double what it is now and if fuel were over $2 a litre or even $3 a litre in some situations. That is what my constituents in the Torres Strait face on Thursday Island, and those on the outer islands face even higher prices.

I recently launched a grocery monitoring scheme in my electorate of Leichhardt based on Wayne Swan’s scheme, which has been running for a number of years. Eighteen supermarkets across the tropical north were surveyed, from Cairns to Port Douglas, Mossman, Cooktown, Weipa and Thursday Island. The three major supermarket brands in the tropical north were the focus of the survey: Coles, Woolworths and Supa IGA. Thursday Island was the only exception to this rule—IBIS is the only major supermarket in the Torres Strait, so it was included in the survey. Everyday prices—that is, the regular prices of items when they were not on special or otherwise marked down—were recorded in the survey, as were the checkout prices, which included specials. The basket of goods on Thursday Island cost $152.42 more than it did in Cairns at the average everyday price. It cost $159 more when compared to the checkout price in Cairns, which included the specials. The basket had only 44 grocery items, things that are typically purchased by Australian households: toiletries, dairy goods, bread, pet food, tinned goods and washing powder. This is a staggering price difference.

Thursday Island residents not only have to pay more for their groceries but face a more limited product range, often having only one brand available. Additionally, Thursday Island was also the only store in which no specials were recorded, whereas up to $7 was saved at the checkout in Cairns stores and over $15 in Cooktown. It is important to remember that Thursday Island is the major centre in the Torres Strait, so those living on the outer islands do pay even more for groceries and have an even more limited range to choose from. These high grocery prices impact on people’s health. Type 2 diabetes is at almost epidemic levels in the Torres Strait not only in the adult population but in children. Easing cost-of-living pressures in the Torres Strait is something that I am pursuing through federal ministers, including Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Health and Ageing; Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government; and the Assistant Treasurer, Chris Bowen. I am also raising this issue with the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.

It is important that freight prices are kept at reasonable levels, and I have raised with ministers concerns about the lack of competition on freight to the Torres Strait. A freight subsidy is something that I also believe should be examined for the Torres Strait, given the real disadvantage experienced by these communities. The Howard government cut the fuel freight subsidy to the Torres Strait in 2006. The cutting of this subsidy increased the cost of all fuel to the Torres Strait for local families and businesses by close to 20c a litre overnight. The scheme costs only a little over $3 million a year. It also bumped up airline travel costs and impacted on the local fishing industry. Local fishermen fish not only to feed their families but to produce discretionary income, as many of them run small fishing businesses.

I find it surprising that Liberal Senator Sue Boyce has suddenly realised the high cost of living in this region and wants an inquiry when it was her own Liberal Party that axed the fuel freight subsidy to the Torres Strait. She raised this through a media release in my local paper last week but when I contacted the relevant Senate committee I found out that it had not been discussed with the secretary or the deputy chair. I certainly welcome any interest in cost-of-living pressures in the Torres Strait, but I can assure you that I will be pursuing this issue, as I already have been, with ministers and through the House of Representatives committee. There is a precedent for freight subsidies to island communities. Governments of both persuasions have been subsidising freight movements between Tasmania and the mainland since 1976. This year more than $136 million is budgeted for the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme. Given the social disadvantage of communities in the Torres Strait, it is hard to argue why they would be less deserving than the residents of Tasmania of a freight subsidy.

One way the Rudd government is already trying to assist locals with cost-of-living pressures is by helping people to grow their own food. There used to be a strong gardening culture in the Torres Strait and we need to support communities to return to growing much of their own food. The Rudd government has delivered a $300,000 boost to the Torres Strait Regional Authority to promote and improve horticulture in the region. This funding will encourage and promote the production of food locally. Obviously, freshly grown local produce is going to be cheaper and will benefit the health of local Torres Strait Islanders.

The Torres Strait is a fantastic part of the world and they have great people. It is a great honour and privilege to represent this part of the world in federal parliament. The grounding of Aero Tropics is creating real problems for the Torres Strait. I am committed to finding a solution to this, but it is a very difficult situation. The long-term challenge of cost-of-living pressures in the Torres Strait is something that I will also continue to work with the region to overcome. Supporting the growing of more food locally is one way that I am working with the local community through the Rudd government. I will continue to raise these issues in Canberra and I look forward to working hard for these local communities. (Time expired)