Page 2054 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
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Overall, the hearings of the committee and the submissions received revealed strong support from the tourism industry for an international airport in Canberra. Although in many ways there was a dilemma, the general perception was that the international airport needed to be established before we could expect the demand to come on stream.
One aspect that was very clear from the committee's investigations was that the tourism dollar from overseas visitors to Australia was on the increase, and the forecasts are very positive. For Canberra to take some share of this, something has to be done to increase our promotion and improve our profile. An international airport would go a long way towards achieving this. It was recognised that an international airport will bring tremendous economic benefits through tourism, particularly in increasing employment opportunities. This is even more significant, considering that Canberra has the highest percentage of youth unemployment and that tourism is the biggest employer of young people. It is also significant, given the current limited employment options in the ACT, where 50 per cent of people are employed by government and 50 per cent by private enterprise, whereas in other States 75 per cent of people are employed in private enterprise.
The committee had the benefit of a report prepared by Airport Planning Pty Ltd, or Airplan, for the Chief Minister, which formed part of the Government's submission to the committee. Airplan had undertaken considerable study into a Canberra Airport international facility. Its report is a very comprehensive document and was very useful in the committee's deliberation. The Airplan report proposes five phases for developing an international airport for Canberra. The Airplan study indicates a time schedule to upgrade the airport to an international facility. The committee considered that there could be significant savings in developing the airport by combining phases 1 to 4 and thereby expediting the schedule.
In terms of straight capital outlays, it could be much cheaper to develop the airport to international status capable of handling B767 aircraft operating directly to and from Asia and the Pacific Rim regions as soon as possible. The committee considers that this possibility ought to be studied in more depth to determine the rate of growth in traffic which could be expected from a more vigorous tourism promotion of the ACT and the region. The committee therefore recommends that the Government undertake a further detailed cost-benefit assessment of the proposed international airport.
The committee believes it to be a top priority to market the ACT and the region overseas through Partnership Australia. Through Partnership Australia, the Australian Tourism Commission and the State and Territory tourist commissions promote Australia overseas as a tourist destination. I am happy to note that in the Chief Minister's budget speech she said that we will be joining Partnership Australia. The committee notes that the ACT is the only State or Territory that is not a member of Partnership Australia, and it recommends full membership.
Madam Speaker, to hark back to the chicken and egg situation, I believe that we must promote Canberra very vigorously as a direct destination and at the same time provide the infrastructure to make it possible for overseas airlines to fly here direct. If we do not do both of those things well, I believe that we will find ourselves lagging behind the
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