Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member opposite for bringing this motion to the House, because it gives me the opportunity to speak about the range of measures the government have undertaken to ensure that we support the aviation sector through the coronavirus crisis. To date, the government have committed more than $1.3 billion in support for the aviation sector through this pandemic. I note that in the member's contribution opposite there weren't actually any solutions provided, just commentary. To date, over $934 million worth of invoices has been paid. We understand the importance of the aviation sector to a country the size of Australia, both for commercial and domestic travel but also for regional travel as well as freight movement and international travel. It's important that we do support it.

I've got a list here of measures that we've undertaken over the past six months or so to support the aviation industry. In March, the government announced $715 million in an airline assistance package to provide immediate and significant relief from fees in waivers for over 70 air operators. We've also provided the JobKeeper package. I note from public statements that Qantas received approximately $267 million in JobKeeper payments to, I believe, 30 June, and there were approximately $156 million in payments of JobKeeper to Virgin to the end of August. We've also provided that support to the smaller airlines. That support has been provided right across our economy. The member opposite mentioned dnata, as did the previous speaker. When the JobKeeper payments were set up, entities owned by foreign governments were excluded, as were councils. Those foreign entities can be supported by their owners.

On 28 March, the government also provided two regional aviation support packages to support 12 air operators fly more than 220 weekly return services. In April, the government announced the international freight assistance mechanism to support the recovery of critical supply chains. As at September, that mechanism had contributed to supporting over 5,900 flights, representing nearly 150,000 tonnes of exports worth $1.95 billion to the Australian economy. In April, the government also announced the minimum international network for Qantas and Virgin to bring Australians home. In April, the government announced the domestic aviation network to support both Virgin and Qantas to support more than 140 domestic return flights per week. These examples, and many others in addition to them, go to show the support that this government has provided to the aviation sector to keep it flying. I note with interest the comments from the CEO of Rex airlines. He expressed his gratitude to the government for its support in ensuring that Rex kept flying on regional routes. I notice that Alliance Airlines have also been quite successful during a difficult period and haven't had a loss over that time.

The measures this government has taken are in line with ensuring that the airline industry is kept afloat and flying. As all of us sitting in this place know, we need to fly to get to Canberra. That has been difficult over the past few months, but it is now starting to return to some level of normalcy. We will keep working with the industry, as we are with many other industries across this country, to ensure that we put the packages and supports in place to keep them viable, both through this coronavirus and into the future, so that we have a viable, profitable airline industry, a viable, profitable manufacturing industry and a viable, profitable agricultural sector. We are continuing to support all of these industries in our economy to get through the coronavirus and to create jobs and opportunities for the future.

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