Kay Hull (Riverina, 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 advise the House of the importance of aviation to the Australian economy, particularly in regional areas such as my electorate of Riverina? How has the industry recovered since September 2001 and are there any potential threats to its continued progress?

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

I thank the member for Riverina for her question. Of course, as a great supporter of regional aviation in Australia, and particularly following some of the events in 2001 and beyond, the member for Riverina understands the significant role that regional aviation plays in servicing regional centres across Australia. Access to affordable aviation travel is critical to the strength of the Australian economy, whether it be in regional Australia or in the major metropolitan areas. Businesses in capital cities depend on aviation links. Regional Australians benefit from good aviation services. Where so many Australians suffer from the tyranny of distance, good, affordable aviation services are crucial.

Since 2001, Australia’s aviation industry has staged a remarkable recovery. Of course, if you go back beyond that, it was put under pressure as part of the Asian economic recession in the late nineties, then we had the impact of SARS, 9/11 and the unfortunate collapse of Ansett. It has really put a lot of pressure on many parts of the aviation sector. But Australian airlines are now carrying more passengers than at any time in our history. Currently the Australian aviation industry is carrying 44 million passengers a year. That is 10 million more Australians flying than in 2000. Regional aviation itself is growing strongly, carrying 5.2 million passengers in 2006. The overall sector currently employs over 52,000 people and is worth about $6 billion to the Australian economy.

The member for Riverina asked: are there any threats to the aviation industry? I read about some this week, not directly from the Australian Labor Party but from some like-minded people at the Australia Institute. The Australia Institute have put out a document calling for a new $30-per-person tax for passengers travelling on domestic flights. Think about someone who can now afford to fly from Sydney to Wagga Wagga in the member’s electorate; it might be a $120 fare. The Australia Institute think that they should be paying $150. So working families who are able to go on holiday because of downward pressure on aviation costs are going to have that opportunity taken away if the Australia Institute get their way. They said in their release after announcing this tax:

... Australians cannot expect to fly more than they currently do today.

Because of climate change, they are proposing that this should be a tax directed at greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector. Admittedly the aviation sector have a role to play in contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, and they accept that. The government has already introduced measures to reduce that. They are practical measures that do not apply costs to ordinary Australian consumers and ordinary Australian families. We have introduced new air traffic control measures that improve sequencing of aircraft and the operation of flexitracks of aircraft. Already there are about nine tonnes per day of CO emissions being saved in and around Sydney airport alone without resorting to taxes on consumers.

The point I am trying to make is that we have heard the Labor Party say that they want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 without doing any substantive economic analysis of the impact of that decision on the everyday lives of Australians. The Australia Institute is a think tank that the Labor Party often relies on for a bit of advice. There is a bit of a connection given that the boss of the ACTU, Sharan Burrows, is actually a director of the Australia Institute and was part of the decision to announce this. We all remember that the Australia Institute said when we introduced the GST that people would die because of it. We all remember when this country was gripped by severe drought last year that the Australia Institute said, ‘Those farmers have no right to be on the land. They should get off it. They do not have a right to be farming it.’ And today they are saying that we should impose a tax of $30 a ticket on Australian travellers in the aviation industry. So the question should be asked of the Australian Labor Party, and particularly the Leader of the Opposition: are they going to rule out a $30 tax on airline travellers in Australia as part of their party’s policy in addressing greenhouse gas emissions? The Labor Party have outsourced their industrial relations policy to the ACTU and their economic policy to the Democrats—although, they have outsourced their land transport policy to the coalition, thanks to the member for Batman. I ask the Leader of the Opposition: is he going to outsource their aviation policy to the Australia Institute and put a $30 ticket tax on the travelling public in Australia?