Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm rising today with a slight sense of deja vu, because I've just heard some troubling news once again from Qantas about a proposed retirement of some of its aircraft. There was a media release from Qantas on Tuesday. They said that they would be acquiring 14 midlife Dash 8-400 aircraft, with 19 smaller turboprop aircraft being phased out. This has been spoken about by Qantas for some time, and I have had many conversations, including at the CEO level, with Qantas about this.

The reason I am particularly troubled by this is that Lord Howe Island, one of the most beautiful places in Australia, is part of my electorate. Lord Howe Island has a short runway. The 19 smaller turboprop aircraft are the aircraft that Qantas has been running to and from Lord Howe Island for many years now. The larger Dash 8-400s that they're proposing to put into service can't land or take off on this runway. There have been all sorts of studies over the years on whether it is possible to expand the runway. It's simply not possible to expand the runway.

For Lord Howe Island, the loss of a regular air service by Qantas would be an absolute disaster. The main source of income and employment on Lord Howe Island is the tourism that the island is so justly famous for. This is a World Heritage area that has no more tourists on any given night than 400, but over the course of a year you actually see about 16,000 visitors. Most families on the island get at least some, if not all, of their income from those tourist visits.

Lord Howe Island really is one of the most spectacular places in the world. It is absolutely justly acknowledged through its World Heritage listing. It has a very well-managed and sustainable tourism industry, as I've said, but it does nevertheless share some of the challenges that any remote community has. Every item on Lord Howe Island—all of the basics: food, building materials, clothing and all the rest of it—have to come in by freight. They come in by boat or by plane. When you're talking about food and medicine in particular, obviously planes are very important.

Those regular air services are not just important for bringing in tourists. People who live on Lord Howe Island have a wonderful medical service on Lord Howe Island for the basics, but anything more complicated requires travel to the mainland. A lot of children go to the mainland for boarding school in their later years of schooling. Certainly if they want to go to TAFE or university, they need to be travelling to the mainland. People have family members on the mainland that they may have caring responsibilities for. You can picture of course, Mr Deputy Speaker, just how important a regular air service is for the residents of Lord Howe Island.

One of the things that are frustrating about this scenario, where Qantas are now saying, 'It's not convenient anymore, because we don't want to run this type of aircraft to Lord Howe Island,' is that, over many years and at difficult times, Qantas, as our national carrier, have been able to rely on the people of Australia to get them through the tough times. I feel that that gives the airline a responsibility to be there for Australians at times like this, and the fact that it's no longer 'convenient' for them to run a particular type of aircraft doesn't absolve them of a responsibility to continue to provide what is an absolutely vital service for this wonderful community.

I can tell you that over the years I've had many discussions about this with Qantas and obviously with the Lord Howe Island Board and residents that would be impacted by this. I think Qantas have a responsibility to come up with a solution. They've said that they won't leave the island without a solution, but I really want to start to hear right now what those options are.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 12:36