Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how government policy is encouraging investment and creating jobs? How is increased aviation competition benefiting the travelling public and Australia’s tourism industry?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cowper for his question and recognise the very keen interest that the member for Cowper has in the tourism industry and particularly the inbound tourism industry in Australia and our capacity in policy settings to ensure that that continues to grow, not to mention our pursuit of competition in the aviation sector, which has delivered far greater passenger movements through the port of Coffs Harbour, represented by the member for Cowper.

Today was quite a significant day in terms of establishing greater competition in the international aviation sector out of Australia. Last year, the former Minister for Transport and Regional Services announced that we were going to allocate air traffic rights to Virgin airlines to fly the Pacific route from the east coast of Australia to the west coast of the United States. They took that commitment knowing that they were going to have to make a significant investment in equipment. Today I witnessed the signing of the contract between Virgin Blue and the Boeing Company to purchase six new Boeing 777 aircraft, worth $2.2 billion. This is a significant indication of the confidence that a majority Australian owned company—Virgin Blue—has in the Australian economy and in the tourism industry here to take on the challenge of providing greater competition across the Pacific route.

Virgin have indicated they will also lease a seventh aircraft and have options for an additional six beyond those six that they signed a contract for today. This means that as soon as those aircraft are available they will be put into service and there will be extra capacity available across the Pacific route. There will be extra competition for the three airlines that are already flying the Pacific route between Australia and the United States.

It is interesting to note also that the company’s indications are that their moving into the international aviation sector will generate in excess of 1,100 new jobs in the Australian economy, which is incredibly important. The investment is important, the competition is important, but the jobs are very, very important. Of course, they will be created in Australia. In servicing this very important aviation sector, providing more competition, greater opportunity and more competitive prices for tourists to travel into Australia, there will be obviously be a flow-on effect, but it also means that there will be 1,100 new jobs in the Australian economy.

In answer to the member’s question: a policy setting that we put in place last year, when we took the decision that there should be an opportunity for another Australian flag carrier on this route rather than a foreign carrier—that commitment that we gave to the Australian aviation industry—was paid back in spades today by a $2.2 billion commitment by Virgin to investing in equipment that is going to take up this opportunity. This is a clear example of government policy creating and establishing and providing succour to greater competition but also creating the opportunity for more Australian jobs and keeping the Australian economy strong.