Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Aston is awake! That is good to see; it is good to be in the chamber when he is paying attention to this vital bit of legislation, the Aviation Legislation Amendment (Liability and Insurance) Bill 2012.

One of the great things about aviation in this country is the fact that so many families now have the ability to travel both domestically and overseas and that the number of destinations they have the opportunity to travel to has also increased quite a great deal. What that does in broadening people's perspectives as they travel to different destinations is a truly great thing for this country, as the member for Throsby indicated. For a continent like ours, aviation plays such a big role.

It has been amazing to see the growth of aviation in spite of some of the best efforts of the industry—in particular, Sydney Airport. When you look at the way they charge for simple things such as parking and you compare it with airports in other parts of the world, you are staggered to see the differential that people are forced to pay. Ever since it was privatised by the Howard government, Sydney Airport Corporation has pretty much seen Mascot as a massive treasure chest from which it can continually extract more and more from the flying public, in spite of the fact that more and more people want to be able to fly and to travel overseas.

It is no wonder that Sydney Airport consistently ranks as one where consumers are quite frustrated by the level of gouging that is extended to them by Sydney Airport Corporation. If you compare long-term car parking in Sydney with any other major destination in the world you would be astounded by how much you are forced to pay. As I said, it is great to see the number of people who have an opportunity to fly, and to see families being able to take up that opportunity, and it would be hoped that some would go back—

Debate interrupted.

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