Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I am disappointed to hear Senator Ludwig’s speech. He has done precisely what Senator Xenophon, in moving the motion, asked him not to do; he is indicating that, because the majority of senators will be opposing this—I think they will; although I am not sure of the Greens’ position, at least one of the Independents will oppose this—we will be opening the gates to airline insecurity. We, along with all senators who will be voting for the motion to disallow the regulations, reject that out of hand. It is disingenuous for the minister to have raised that in his speech.

Before I state the grounds upon which the opposition will be supporting the motion to disallow, I indicate to Senator Wortley, the chair of the committee which put in the original disallowance motion, that I congratulate her on her courage and on her contribution to Australia in doing what is right. Senator Wortley acted very appropriately and was very courageous in carrying out her duties as chair of the committee. Not many people in the Labor Party would be prepared to stand up to Mr Albanese and wear the wrath which we know would be imposed upon those who dare to cross him, but it is good to see that there is a senator who is prepared to put her duties to the Australian public and to the Australian parliament ahead of any other consideration.

I also congratulate Senator Chris Back. As I understand—I was not a member of the committee and I am not sure how secret the dealings of the committee are—it was Senator Back who, in this committee, first raised the issue of lack of consultation and, as a result, convinced the committee that a disallowance motion should be moved. The coalition has attempted very consistently and strongly to work with the government to get a resolution to this issue. As Senator Ludwig said, some of the issues raised in the regulation are issues which our government instituted in the first instance. It was all towards making airline travel safer and securing the cockpit, making it safer for Australians to travel by air. When we saw this regulation, we were concerned about it initially. Mr Truss, as shadow transport minister, made a mighty effort to work cooperatively with Mr Albanese in relation to the regulation. As I understand, all of the loopholes—we concede there is a loophole—could be fixed on Monday with a bit of goodwill from Mr Albanese, but he has chosen to proceed with this regulation knowing that it is flawed.

The concern is that, had the minister done what he is required to do and consulted widely, we would not be in this situation today. It is because the minister did not do what he was required to do and chose to ignore those who are most involved in this—the airline pilots themselves—that we are in this situation today. The airline pilots association have made their view very clear. They do not want to widen the class of persons who have cockpit access. They do not want to include general entry to family members or friends, as is being suggested by the minister. The airline pilots association have also noted that such a general class of persons are not permitted to enter the flight deck of an airline in any flight in Australia at this time in any case. They further point out in their submissions that Australia’s professional pilots would not support any widening of the access. So we in the coalition dismiss any assertion that somehow we are compromising the security of the flight deck by supporting the disallowance motion. Access to the flight deck is suitably limited and will remain so in the immediate future.

Qantas now only permits its employees access to the jump seat in the cockpit, and then only at the pilot’s discretion. Prior to our government restricting access to the flight deck in 2005, it was commonplace for passengers to visit the flight deck at the pilot’s discretion. This was often permitted. But, as we know so well, times have changed since 11 September 2001, and the coalition government moved to responsibly restrict access to only those the airline felt appropriate to enter their flight deck. In providing airlines with the discretion to decide who entered the flight deck, the coalition in 2005 recognised the emerging world’s best practice concept of outcome based safety regulations. This concept is today the foundation principle underpinning Australia’s approach to aviation regulations and is recognised globally as the most effective way for delivering the best safety in critical industries such as aviation.

Airlines know far more about operating large aircraft worldwide than our government. That is a self-evident fact, of course. In the case of Qantas they have been doing it for nearly 90 years. Outcome based safety systems tap into this extensive knowledge and allow the airlines to figure out how to run their businesses safely and effectively. The coalition recognises this principle by permitting airlines to develop their own flight deck access plan. I am conscious of the fact—