Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Labor supports regional security upgrades at our airports. We think our regional airports should have proper security in place. What we think should also happen is that a government should implement those regional airport security upgrades in a way that is not ham-fisted, does not punish regional communities and does not put the future of regional airlines or regional airports into doubt, but that is exactly what is happening under this government's plan to upgrade security at regional airports.

We have heard testimony in this Senate that Whyalla Airport probably can't survive if this government persists with its regional security upgrades in the way they've designed it. We have heard evidence in this place that Rex Airlines think that several of their routes will not be economically viable if the government persist with the program they have started to upgrade regional airport security. We have heard evidence in this place that Armidale Airport says that this Liberal-National government's program of upgrades at regional airports will definitely hurt regional airports.

It is all well and good for the Nationals to come in here and say that they want these costs shared across the entire country, not foisted onto regional airlines and airports, regional councils and regional airline passengers. It's all well and good for the Nationals to say that's what they want, but it is exactly what this Liberal-National government is doing. Make no mistake: if the government, this Liberal-National government, proceeds as it has started—if it does not change the design, the implementation and the cost structure of these security upgrades at regional airports—we will see regional airports in this country close, we will see regional airline routes shut down and we will see regional people paying more to take a flight. That is simply what's going to happen. It is simply the outcome of the government's ham-fisted, short-sighted, 'shove everything onto the regions and let them bear the cost' approach to upgrading airport security in regional communities.

Liberal Senator Rennick went to these hearings. He called for what Senator McKenzie says she wanted. He called for the cost to be shared across all of Australia and not just foisted onto regional communities. Senator McKenzie says she wants it. You know what? I want it. I agree with Senator McKenzie—there has got to be a better way than what this Liberal-National government is delivering. The difference between me and Senator Rennick, and the difference between me and Senator McKenzie, is they are in government. You are in government. You could fix this. Don't just come into the Senate, don't just come into—

Senator McKenzie interjecting—

Oh, she says she is. Well, then, why couldn't the Department of Home Affairs—she stands in here and praises the Minister for Home Affairs in the other place, Minister Dutton—answer the most basic questions in front of the RRAT committee? They could not. They would not commit to the type of cost structure that Senator Rennick proposed. They disregarded it. So it's all well and good for Liberal and National senators to come in here and say, 'Here in Canberra, rah, rah, we're for the regions,' but they fail to deliver any actual change in the government's implementation, definitions, requirements or, indeed, cost recovery for these regional airport security upgrades.

The government can fix this. What will not fix this is Senator Patrick's disallowance motion. I think Senator Patrick has good intentions in his heart. I think his motives are pure. But I think he's using the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a walnut here. I think that Senator Patrick's motion would send the wrong message to the community, because it would actually cancel the security upgrades at regional airports. It would actually do away with them. It would mean that four of our airports, three of them in Senator Patrick's own home state, would no longer have a security upgrade in train.

Senator Patrick interjecting—

Senator Patrick is interjecting on me here. He's had his go. He's had his 15 minutes of fame on this. But I regretfully say to you, Senator Patrick: while I think your motives are pure, your method is not—I won't say that it's mad; it's just not one that we support.

So Labor will not be supporting this disallowance motion. This is the government's problem to fix. Regional Australia have a problem. The government is the threat to their ability to access affordable flights or indeed to have an airport in the community at all, and it is up to the government, this Liberal-National government, to fix it.