Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise today to speak on the Sydney Airport Demand Management Amendment Bill 2024 and the need for the right adjustments to be made as quickly as possible not just for the people of Australia but also particularly for the people in my electorate of Cowper.

I am very proud to represent a coastal regional electorate that is growing at an exponential rate. As someone who was born and raised there and now raising my own family, I have personally witnessed the ever-expanding list of reasons why the Mid North Coast of New South Wales is so attractive to metro migrants, regional seachangers, retirees and tourists alike. We are a region overflowing with natural beauty from stunning beaches to our rivers, mountains and forests. In recent decades, our liveability credentials have expanded to include better healthcare infrastructure, world-class community hubs and sporting facilities, a wide range of schools and tertiary education options, and, importantly, increased access to job opportunities, which have radically enhanced since COVID.

Part of this expansion in opportunity has been a direct result of our airports in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour and the ability to travel to Sydney or Brisbane on a one-hour flight. Since COVID, the demand on our local airports has increased month on month. Unfortunately, the competitive landscape has declined over that same period, resulting in airfare charges that have become untenable for many people. In Coffs Harbour, people are now resorting to driving more than two hours north to Ballina in order to take advantages of airfares that are a third of the price that are offered locally. Even when you factor in petrol and parking costs—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:14 to 11:42

I was saying, just before the break, that people in Coffs Harbour, because of the systems that have been put in place and the imbalance, are now travelling to Ballina, which is over two hours north, to take advantage of airfares that are a third of the price of those that are offered locally. So they're travelling from Coffs Harbour to fly to Sydney instead of flying from Coffs Harbour down to Sydney because the prices are $200 or $250, as opposed to 600-odd dollars, because of competition. It doesn't make much sense when Coffs Harbour is a regional city of almost 100,000 people with an established airport that can, in fact, take aircraft that can fly internationally. It beggars belief that available fares from a city half the size and hundreds of kilometres away can be cheaper to fly to Sydney.

For regional towns and cities, our transport networks are critical. There is a need and an expectation that these grow with the population and the demand, but unfortunately for the Mid North Coast we have seen the opposite occur. Our supply has dwindled, pushing up prices as much as 300 per cent on what we were seeing in 2019, when I was first elected. I receive daily correspondence from a wide section of the community lamenting this fact—and that's fair enough. It makes absolutely no sense. There are those in aged-care facilities and on home-care packages with families who are no longer able to visit because of the cost of these flights. Local businesses that rely on the seasonal influx of tourists have seen a drop in revenue because of the prices to travel to the destination. There are students who came to our region to study at Charles Sturt University or Southern Cross University who are now feeling extremely isolated from their families who might live in Sydney or Melbourne.

Of course, it's those fly-in fly-out, FIFO, workers who do go to Sydney or choose to go to Melbourne who, prior to the pandemic, made a decision to come to our regions because the flights were available and affordable. Now, it's almost impossible for them to travel on a weekly basis. I know that in some cases it has ended up that these people are no longer in employment because they cannot pay those fares to travel to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane from Port Macquarie or Coffs Harbour.

One of the notable problems is the slot allocation inefficiencies at Sydney airport. I would like to make the point that the company that manages the slot allocation—and I'll make a declaration here. I do have a Chairman's Lounge membership, but that doesn't stop me being critical of Qantas, just as I'm a customer of the Commonwealth Bank and I'm constantly criticising them. I'll continue to do my job on behalf of my constituents. I'll make this point: of the company that allocates the slots for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Airport Coordination Australia, 46 per cent is owned by Qantas, and 37 per cent—I'll be corrected, but it's in the 30s—is owned by Virgin. That is letting the fox run the henhouse. It really is. It is outrageous.

I find it entirely unacceptable that Qantas and Virgin have a monopoly over the slot allocation of flights, where you see them not use those slots, in a predatory fashion, to push out smaller airlines. That is exactly what we've seen in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour. We have had Bonza. Bonza were trying to go to different routes, but, of course, they still need a cashflow. Bonza were pushed out because of lack of slot allocation. We had FlyPelican, which was fantastic. It only flew on Thursday and Sunday. It flew from Port Macquarie direct to Canberra, Canberra direct to Port Macquarie and other locations. They're no longer with us because it was not financially viable for them because of the slot allocations.

Now we have seen Rex, similarly, and Rex is so important for regional and rural areas. They service the people that Qantas and Virgin consider a by-product. Rex, as we all know, is in voluntary administration. Hopefully we see them back with some sort of government intervention. But the fact that Qantas and Virgin can actually continue on with this predatory practice needs to be stopped, and it needs to be stopped right now—not just for the reason that it's a predatory practice but because it affects people in the regions. Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour are classic examples of that.

If I can go to the bill itself, the bill seeks to introduce a new recovery framework which is intended to limit delays, cancellations and redirection of the flights that occur during significant weather events in the Sydney airport space—a framework that the coalition wholeheartedly supports. It is hoped that under this framework there would be capacity to operate an additional five flights above the hourly cap for a limited two-hour recovery period following a declared significant event. The bill also seeks to improve the governance of the Slot Compliance Committee. We certainly hope that happens. It harmonises the rules underpinning the demand management scheme with the internationally recognised Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines.

It provides the minister with the ability to determine the demand management scheme and provide directions to the slot manager. While the detail will be covered in the proposed regulations, it's critical that improvements to the Sydney Airport demand management scheme are effective at addressing longstanding concerns about slot allocation and compliance at Sydney airport to ensure that good performance by airlines is rewarded, anticompetitive behaviour is prevented and new entrants are able to get access on fair and reasonable terms.

We will look to the Senate inquiry to see to what extent the bill addresses the productivity and competitive challenges measured against the recommendations of the Harris review. We feel that this is necessary given the lack of effective community consultation that has been undertaken to date and the fact that the regulations have not yet been formally drafted. The coalition wants to see a more affordable and reliable competitive aviation sector. I say 'the coalition', but I honestly believe that everybody in this place wants to see a more affordable, reliable and competitive aviation sector. With that in mind, we have concerns and issues in relation to the government's bill, which we believe should be raised and examined through the Senate inquiry process.

At the end of the day, all Australians want and deserve an aviation industry that not only gets the basics right but is also accessible and available for everyone. We need planes to take off and land on time, we need choices when it comes to carriers, we need choices where it comes to routes and we need airfares that are stable and affordable. Without this, regions like Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey and all the way in between won't prosper. It's as simple as that. The inquiry process will inform the coalition's final position on the government's bill, but I do reiterate that we support the intent and the goals herein, and all of our constituents deserve our full attention and support in relation to safeguards in this critical transport link now and for years to come.

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