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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (1 September) . . Page.. 2747 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Mr Kaine was talking about there being no net cost to government. As Mr Kaine will remember, the only proposal that really met that criterion was the Speedrail proposal. No net cost means that the proposal has to be able to operate at no net cost to government - there inevitably will be some - after taking into account the improved tax base, the improved employment situation and all of the other things which go with a project like this one. I have to say that the most important thing that this proposal can do for the governments generally is to defer significantly the need for a second airport. A second airport at Badgerys Creek or wherever would cost the Federal Government and other governments, depending on whose figures you believe, $7 billion to $9 billion.

There would be significant infrastructure costs associated with getting to and from Badgerys Creek, to start with. There would be all of the costs of building a major airport and all of the environmental problems of a major airport. That would involve spending a lot of the taxpayers' money. By upgrading Canberra Airport, implementing the very fast train proposal, upgrading Bankstown Airport, which is something that I would like to speak about in a moment, and, as Mr Quinlan said, looking to Canberra as a regional hub for the smaller airlines and bringing those things together we would have all of a sudden an answer for Federal Cabinet that would save them significant dollars and significant political hassles and also improve not just Canberra but the whole of regional New South Wales in terms of the economy, livability, quality of life and capacity for growth outside the major cities. I am pleased that Mr Hird has brought up this matter because I think it is important that we all sing the same song on that.

Mr Quinlan: Good on you, Harold - a great idea.

MS CARNELL: It was his idea. Mr Deputy Speaker, it is important that we all get behind this approach, because this is a major issue right now for Federal Cabinet and Federal politicians of all colours. In all of the forums that we have an opportunity to speak to people on both sides of Federal politics - those opposite should be pushing the issue with their New South Wales Labor colleagues - we should take advantage of the opportunity to try to convince them and their governments that the proposal we have here for a travelport and an upgrading of Bankstown Airport is an answer and is an answer that would cost government significantly less.

As well as that, it has the great potential of being able to improve the sustainability of Sydney's expansion. Sydney is currently expanding to the north-west and to the south-west into areas, as we know, that have no schools, no infrastructure and no hospitals. This series of proposals would inevitably mean that the sprawl of Sydney would go down the corridor between Canberra and Sydney where there are already schools and hospitals, many of which are struggling. The environmental and other benefits of that for regional New South Wales would be quite significant.

I totally agree with Mr Quinlan in terms of the benefits of that to Canberra. It would be nice to have international flights, but they are not central to this whole approach. Central to it is making sure that the ACT is seen as a hub for regional airlines. As members will know, we have been working with the Capital Airport Group on a bid concerning Hazelton Airlines. Just in the last week I had representatives of Impulse Airlines in my office. We need to ensure that those proposals get air time with the media and at the

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