Page 1428 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 11 May 1994
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MR LAMONT (Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Housing and Community Services, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (3.49): Mr Deputy Speaker, I want to raise a number of issues and hopefully add to what I believe is a quite necessary public debate on the future of our airport. I think there are two basic issues that need to be addressed. There are, of course, the economic issues, which Mr Westende has outlined at some length this afternoon; but there are also environmental issues which need to be addressed in our consideration.
Mr Moore: After our discussion.
MR LAMONT: I suppose that it is somewhat like the chicken and the egg. Mr Moore, I am fortunate to have been part of the committee inquiring into the question of an international airport and, along with Mr Westende and Ms Szuty, I undertook inspections of the Cairns Port Authority and the Cairns domestic and international airports. During discussions with the local Labor member for the region a number of concerns were expressed. It is not that there is not a substantial economic benefit derived by the Far North Queensland region from the establishment of Cairns Airport as an international airport; but there needs to be a sensitivity, in the development of that airport, to environmental issues and community concerns. I think that is an essential point which we must take into account when we are discussing the expansion of our airport into an international facility, and the expansion and utilisation of the region's resources as a result of that development.
I think that there is a first step that needs to be taken before we can assess the environmental issues. In the first instance we have to make a decision as to whether or not we want an international airport and, if we do, whether our airport is capable of being expanded into an international facility. If it is, how do we do it? What do we do to ensure that that airport, once expanded, is able to attract not only international operators but also national operators to take a larger role in its operations? I think it needs to be clearly borne in mind that we need to take account of those environmental issues once we have made a decision as to whether or not we are going to proceed down this road. My personal preference is that we do proceed down this road and address each of these tests.
The fact that the Olympics will be held in Sydney in the year 2000 of itself cannot, and should not, justify the establishment of Canberra Airport as an international airport. I believe that the Olympics will provide an impetus. They could provide increased use at an earlier stage and could operate to encourage international marketing activity centred around Canberra and the south-east region; but, of itself, holding the Olympics in Sydney in the year 2000 cannot justify the type of expenditure necessary to expand Canberra Airport into an international airport. I think that those two fundamental positions need to be borne in mind when we are considering this matter of public importance.
It is interesting to note that since this debate was kicked off by a number of us in this chamber some years ago the ground rules have changed. When we first considered this question it was on the basis of how we could get the Commonwealth to agree, through the Federal Airports Corporation, to expand Canberra Airport into an international
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