Page 1419 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 11 May 1994
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INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, I have received a letter from Mr Stevenson proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
Why we should strongly support Canberra as an international airline destination in time for the Sydney Olympic Games.
MR STEVENSON (3.12): What is the difference between Canberra and Cairns, Townsville, Darwin, Broome and Hobart? Apart from the fact that they all have a far lower number of people living there, the answer is - - -
Mrs Grassby: It is the temperature. It is warmer up there.
MR STEVENSON: Not in Hobart. The answer is that, while Canberra is the national capital, they all have an international airport and we do not. Most people in Canberra and around Australia who are involved in aviation would agree that the question is not whether Canberra Airport will become an international airport but simply when it will.
Today I want to present some of the reasons why we should work toward that happening in time for the Olympic Games to be held in Sydney. I do not call them the Sydney Olympic Games because we could well be involved in hosting some of those events. I have found out a number of interesting things during research on this area. One that is important is how international airports operate in Australia. They all operate on a paired airport destination basis. What that means is that when an aircraft arrives from overseas at one location it terminates a portion of its passengers and picks up a number of passengers who are going to fly out, overseas, back to the original departure point of the aircraft. It then flies into the second Australian airport and terminates the rest of the passengers.
Mr De Domenico: Oh! With heat-seeking missiles or what?
MR STEVENSON: I did look at that. Apparently that is a term that is used in the industry and I thought I would use it. I would have preferred something else. It is like a number of things that happen with regard to airports. Some of us are a little concerned when we fly. You take your concerns and your case out to the airport and just before you leave they say, "This is your final call", which does nothing to make you feel better.
Once they have terminated the rest of the passengers they flew into Australia with, at the second airport at which they have landed in Australia, they pick up the rest of the passengers who are going to fly overseas. They do not take domestic passengers; they take international passengers. That is how every international airport operates in Australia, and that is how Canberra will operate when we have international flights coming into Canberra.
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