Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all honourable members for their contributions to this debate on the Civil Aviation (Unmanned Aircraft Levy) Bill 2020 and the Civil Aviation Amendment (Unmanned Aircraft Levy Collection and Payment) Bill 2020. The systems of remotely piloted aircraft—or RPAs, also known as drones—are rapidly developing and highly technical sectors of aviation. More and more RPAs are being flown across our skies, and RPAs are being used in a wide and growing range of applications, such as: delivering commercial packages, monitoring bushfires, search and rescue, infrastructure inspections and even the application of pesticides. Every day we are finding more and more users and opportunities to capitalise on the opportunities offered by this emerging technology.

These opportunities, however, also bring a range of challenges to the broader aviation industry. Australia's safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority—or CASA—who continues to provide regulatory functions to RPA users, faces more pressure to ensure the safe integration of drones into the Australian aviation system. Together, these bills enable CASA to continue delivering safe administration and regulation of RPAs into the future. This ensures that CASA has sufficient funding to continue providing safety regulatory functions for RPAs that are supported by users of the functions instead of by the general public. It will also support the introduction of RPA registration schemes which are set to begin from 30 September 2020 onwards. Given the impacts of COVID-19 on the aviation sector and the relative infancy of the RPA sector, I understand that introducing a cost-recovery scheme during this period could potentially stifle innovation and growth and negatively impact the opportunity for this sector to get back on its feet.

While the registration scheme will begin in September 2020, there'll be no cost on any users for the current financial year. Any consideration of costs imposed from the cost-recovery scheme will only be imposed from mid-2021 onwards. This will be considered as part of the overall funding arrangements for CASA and—once the government has developed a whole-of-government approach to regulation and service provision for the RPA sector—this levy will only apply to commercial RPA operators at this point and not to recreational RPA users. I would like to thank the honourable members for their constructive contributions to this debate and I commend the bills to the House.

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