Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the minister advise the House of measures the government is taking to ensure the safety of air traffic between Australia and Indonesia?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to inform the honourable member that the Indonesian government is set to trial a new air surveillance system developed by Airservices Australia in alliance with the international airline data communications provider, SITA Inc. This trial will involve a new airspace surveillance technology, called Automatic Dependence Surveillance Broadcasting, or ADSB, and it will begin in Indonesia in May 2006.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister has the call.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would have thought honourable members opposite would be rather interested in the safety of air traffic between Australia and Indonesia, but it would seem that their minds are on other things. The reality is that there are about 60,000 flights in and out of Australia and through Australian-Indonesian air space every year. Close to half of those flights are operated by Qantas. There have been concerns about the safety of Indonesian air space management and this, therefore, is a significant step forward. It is sophisticated new technology and it involves aircraft broadcasting their position every second, with the signal being picked up by ground based ADSB receivers and forwarded to air traffic controllers.

This technology is particularly well suited to countries with difficult terrain, and it is being assessed with the potential of it being introduced in Australia. We hope, in fact, that Australia will become the first country in the world to introduce this new technology by 2007. It has greater capacity to cover an entire country than the existing radar networks and will undoubtedly improve the management of international airspace.

In addition to these initiatives, we are moving close to completing a $1.1 million project focusing on improved screening of passengers at Denpasar and Jakarta airports. We have got three transport specialist security people in Jakarta to work cooperatively with the local people to endeavour to upgrade security arrangements, and our last port of call project will help countries which operate flights into Australia to upgrade their security. That is important not just for the safety of travellers in those countries but also to protect our own skies so that we do not import into this country from a last port of call someone with ill intent to our country. So we are undertaking very significant steps to improve the security and the management of our airspace to our near north. This development of ADSB technology and its introduction in Indonesia is a world first and will make a very significant improvement in the safety of the region.