Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment (Mutual Recognition with New Zealand) Bill 2005 [2006]. Labor opposes this bill. This bill was referred to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee. The committee received a number of submissions. One submission was from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of New Zealand. They had the audacity to tell the committee that mutual recognition would lead to harmonisation of safety standards. The Department of Transport and Regional Services submission totally repudiated the New Zealand regulator’s view.

This bill will undermine Australia’s proud aviation safety records and standards. I wish to refer to the flight attendant passenger ratios. Currently in Australia the ratio is one flight attendant for 36 actual passengers. The New Zealand standard is one flight attendant for 50 seats. For the life of me I do not understand how that could improve or harmonise Australia’s safety standards in aviation. I am totally baffled. I do not know what could have been going through the government senators’ minds when these submissions were being put to the committee. I do not know whether or not they plan on being around long enough to keep flying when this bill comes into force, but we will find out in the next round of preselections.

Having been a TWU organiser and an organiser in the aviation industry with Qantas, Skippers Aviation and the former airline Ansett, I know that you could not get a bunch of better trained people. There is no question of how well trained these flight attendants, pilots and so on are—not only in passenger safety but flight safety. It is a shame that this bill will undermine that.

The New Zealand regulator talks about harmonisation, and I want to home in on the word ‘harmonisation’. This harmonisation will see Australian standards lowered; there is no argument about that. It will, without any doubt, see Australian jobs disappear offshore. This harmonisation prohibits sky marshals on aircraft operating under a New Zealand air operators certificate. We know how the Howard government could not wait to seize every opportunity to espouse their professionalism in Australia’s security. That is a huge undermining of our safety.

I am afraid that some airlines may manipulate the new rules by servicing Australian domestic routes while operating under New Zealand regulations with lower cost burdens. Labor and Australian Democrats senators recommend that the bill be opposed in the absence of a comparative assessment of safety standards, a full regulatory analysis of the two systems, and a detailed analysis of the cost and the benefits of the proposed regime.

When you combine this bill with the Howard government’s Work Choices legislation, we have a recipe to gut the standards of Australia’s aviation industry. Australia’s air safety standards are not a commodity that is for sale—and should not be, under any circumstances. Labor opposes this bill. If any senator in this place has any concern about air safety and about maintaining our standards in this country, they should follow the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Democrats and oppose this bill.