Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Last night, Wagga Wagga City Council put forward a motion, which was passed unanimously, saying that the federal government should nationalise Rex. Rex went into voluntary administration at the end of July. I said from the outset of Rex's financial difficulties that all options need to be on the table. I've raised the possibility of the federal government having an equity stake in Rex to ensure the airline's future. That said, the federal government is not usually in the business of owning airlines, as important as that might be for many people.

The crucial aspect of Rex's turbulence at the moment is the fact that they are the only ones who service many country towns. If not for Rex, those country towns wouldn't be able to get planes into their airports and, therefore, wouldn't be able to get doctors, nurses, vaccines and, most importantly, medication. People in those towns would also then not be able to make it to their capital city medical appointments. But it's more than just health, and we all know that. It's business. It's tourism. It's so many aspects of modern living. That's why regional people need, expect, demand and deserve to have air services. Certainly, for Wagga Wagga, we are the beneficiaries of not only Rex but also QantasLink, as are many other regional places. If Rex is not flying then that just leaves QantasLink as the only airline, and therefore prices go up. There would be no competition, and that would be a huge disadvantage for people who call the regions home.

When I was the Deputy Prime Minister and we had the global pandemic I was proud of the assistance that I provided to not only Rex Airlines but every airline in Australia—certainly in Rex's case it was around $60 million of support—because I knew that planes in the air meant jobs on the ground. Labor often criticised me and yelled across the chamber during question time, 'You're the minister for Rex.' Well, I took that as a badge of honour, because in the rest of the world 26 national carriers, large airlines the size of, say, Virgin, went bankrupt during COVID-19. They're no longer operating. They're no longer flying.

I well remember talking about aviation to somebody who would know, and that is Warren Truss, the former member for Wide Bay, the former transport minister, the former Deputy Prime Minister, the former Nationals leader. Warren told me what a volatile industry aviation is—and he was right, like he was about everything he set his mind to. He was one of the finest ministers I've ever seen. He was somebody who read every single line of every single piece of legislation that was ever put before him. He knew and he understood aviation.

I will say—and this might come as a surprise to those opposite—that so too does the current Prime Minister, the member for Grayndler. I can well remember taking him into my confidence when I wanted to discuss with him matters of aviation importance, and on a confidential basis we talked about what the then opposition might agree to and what they might disagree with on matters of aviation and transport generally. They were good meetings. They were successful meetings. I respect his view, just like I respect that at the moment—and hopefully in the future—he is doing the right thing by Rex. I know the government is underwriting the tickets. I know they're underwriting the risk. I know they're underwriting regional express services for regional people. The government must continue to do this while Ernst & Young works through the process with potential buyers. It's a difficult process. I understand that. Getting a buyer for an airline that is experiencing tough times is hard.

Wagga Wagga needs Rex. We've got the maintenance hangar at Wagga Wagga Airport. Those operations in Wagga Wagga alone employ around 170 to 180 people. It contributes $12 million to the local economy. It is too big an airline to fail.

It was a folly—in hindsight, of course—that Rex took on the capital city to capital city routes. The Sydney to Melbourne air route is one of the busiest in the world, and to take on Virgin and Qantas on that route in hindsight was a mistake. Rex was making reasonable money. They were in the black year after year. They won many international awards for being the regional airline of choice—not only a regional airline that Australia obviously was very proud of but a globally recognised airline. I would urge and encourage any country commuter who is flying, if they have a choice, to fly Rex, because, if you don't use something, often you lose something—and we simply cannot afford to lose Rex.

It is in voluntary administration. I appreciate the government is doing what it needs to at the moment. I would implore the government—through the Prime Minister, who, as I said, understands aviation, and through the transport minister—to do all it can to keep Rex planes in the air, because it's too important not to. Wagga Wagga City Council's letter will obviously be landing on the Prime Minister's, if not the transport minister's, desk—if not both—and I will certainly be following that up as well. I commend council for taking an interest in this matter. Rest assured that I've been on the case and I will continue to do just that.

This is a grievance debate: grievances are obviously issues of concern. I am concerned, very much, about the parlous state of regional Australia at the moment under this government. You only have to ask any irrigation farmer—I appreciate I have the member for Nicholls behind me, and I'm sure he would appreciate this better than most—just how difficult it is under this Labor government for our farmers, who grow the food that feeds our nation and who grow the fibre that puts the clothes on people's backs, and many others besides. They are in there buying water, distorting the water market. We need that water flowing down those irrigation channels to ensure that our farmers can be the best they are in the world.

I think our farmers sometimes get a bad rap. I think our farmers are sometimes not seen as the great environmental stewards that they are. Our farmers are the best environmentalists in the world—make no mistake about that. We should thank our farmers every time we tuck our knees under the table to eat. Three times a day, every day—breakfast, lunch and dinner—we should be saying to our farmers, 'Thank you for the job that you do.' Often at the vagaries of the weather, they work for 12 months and earn absolutely nothing. They need a better government. Hopefully, after the next election, they will have a better government who will treat their needs far more diligently and carefully and with far more considered action than this Labor government.

There is something that I would really hate to see and that would be a real grievance for me. I will always say that the very worst Labor member is going to always be better than the very best Greens political party member.

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