Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's been a lot of talk in this chamber over the last 48 hours about scrutiny and transparency. I'm going to talk about a very strange thing tonight: that one time the government got it right. I asked a question on notice:

Has Newcastle Airport sought any rent relief or form of payment deferment for the use of facilities at Williamtown, NSW in the last 24 months.

And, wouldn't you know it, 31 days later—just one day after the 30 days—they answered. The answer—it wasn't a fudge—was this:

In the specified time period, no rent relief has been provided to Newcastle Airport Pty Ltd. The airport continues to pay rent to Defence for their lease of Commonwealth land …

The reason I asked that question is because there was a bit of a he-said-she-said moment in the Newcastle media. The Newcastle Herald claimed to have gotten some documents showing that Newcastle Airport, jointly owned by Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Council, was under some financial difficulty. The airport wrote me a letter: 'Everything is fine. There's nothing to see here. Everything is wonderful. Here is the thing—we're a very sustainable airport. We've got a low carbon footprint. We're doing all these things.' I thought: 'There are two different ways. How do I weigh it up?' I asked this question because one of the allegations made in the paper was that the airport had sought rent relief because of its financial position. Here we have it in black and white. It's from the government—a neutral adviser. The airport had sought rent relief from the Commonwealth for its operations.

When we think about why this was important to me in the lead-up to the 2022 election, the airport was out lobbying for money. There was a runway upgrade, and they wanted money for Defence to put in there to make it a more solid runway. The extra funding was $60 million, and this was so it could land wide-body aircraft for international flights. The then Morrison government, through Barnaby Joyce, the infrastructure minister, made that happen, and it was provided. It was infrastructure money through Defence. They also wanted $55 million for half of a new airport terminal for international arrivals, so international visitors could come there. I must say, I was slightly concerned because they were talking about inbound tourism. In the Hunter, this is something very important to us. I joked at the time that it would all become a hub for the Bintang express—for people to get to Bali and back a little bit quicker, with nothing inbound. That's exactly what has happened. Three years later they've announced one international service. Guess where? It's to Bali. Here's what the airport needs to do. It's like being a property developer. They're developing land around the air base. They admit to diverting money from their things, out of budget, to property development. The money was given by the federal government not for property development but to become an international airport, to develop routes through Singapore and Asia, or to fly to the Middle East and Europe. It was to be another international airport.

When we talk about scrutiny, we need to ask the questions: what is the truth, and what has been going on there? I noticed yesterday morning that the Mayor of Newcastle City Council was on ABC Radio with Paul Culliver. He was asking questions about the airport. These were his statements: 'I have agreed that I will not, because of a conflict of interest, comment on the airport, as I explained to your producer.' When pressed further, he stated, 'Following written communication and discussion with the airport board, I agreed not to make any further comment about the airport.' Imagine the mayor of one of the equal shareholders not being able to comment on a key asset worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. Why is that? Why are they not coming clean? I'll be honest with you. The airport has offered to come give me a great briefing and tell me what's going on. What about the ratepayers of Port Stephens and Newcastle? Why not tell them the state of an asset they take money from? Are the ratepayers potentially on the hook for money? They're talking about negotiating a new debt facility with Commonwealth Bank. But the Commonwealth Bank isn't that keen. So, if you're asking for rent relief and not getting new financing, something is crook in Tobruk. All I ask is that the airport not offer me a private briefing but come out and tell us what your plan is to go back to the original [inaudible]. They'd come down here and ask for $49 million for a freight hub when they can't pay their own bills. Get on, do your job, become an international airport and focus on being an airport and not a property developer, because that's what the people of the Hunter want to do, and it's what the federal government gave you money for.