Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the committee's report entitled Report 8/2017: referral made September 2017.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I thank the House for its indulgence. On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I have presented the committee's eighth report for 2017, on a proposal referred in September 2017. Airservices Australia have proposed the construction of a range of new aviation infrastructure at Brisbane Airport, supporting the construction of a new parallel runway. There are two parts to this proposal.

The first part is focused on civil works to support the installation of new navigational aids and the provision of new fibre-optic cabling to improve communications.

The second part is focused on the construction of a new aviation rescue firefighting service station. The location of this station will be critical to the ability of firefighters at Brisbane Airport to meet the mandatory response times on both runways. Once the new station is completed, the existing station will be demolished, and the site will be remediated.

The committee recommended that the proposed project should proceed. The reason we suggested that it should proceed is that the bulk of the funding for this is funded by the airlines, so it's not as if it's a laborious weight on the government's or the taxpayers' coffers. It is a self-funded project, along with some commercial lending. By the nature of the board's make-up, being associated with government, the Public Works Committee provides a mechanism to unlock funds so that they can access them. The airlines that we fly on on a regular basis are contributors, along with international airlines.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the committee secretariat for their hard work in supporting the committee through this inquiry. In particular, I would like to recognise the work of Stacey Borg, who as a graduate has taken the lead in supporting the committee in this inquiry, and has done an excellent job. So, Stacey, thank you for the work that you've done. It's your first hit-out. Congratulations to you.

I commend the report to the House.