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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (30 March) . . Page.. 1182 ..

MR QUINLAN: I support the process. What I am trying to say, Mr Rugendyke, is that some of us do not accept everything the Government says on face value. We exercise our responsibility to the public by questioning it and making sure that it is valid, instead of slavishly following the Government. This is quite a speculative venture. We have an airline that has about 12 small planes and it is going to buy some larger ones and increase its capacity to carry by about fivefold. If we are going to invest in that, we will need to ask at least some basic questions. I would defend that process.

We have available to us some consultants' reports. It is again important to note that at the base of those consultants' reports are some marketing figures. Everybody has used the same figures. They were commissioned twice by the Canberra International Airport, they were commissioned by the ACT Government, and there are Impulse's own figures. So, to some extent, the figures have been commissioned purely by the pro side. We do not have to go back very far to remember the market survey for Bruce Stadium that gave rise to the Bruce Stadium redevelopment. It had appalling figures in it, figures that you would not believe, figures that I believe were flung back across a meeting table by stakeholders on first reading them because they were just so unbelievable. In relation to the figures that have been put down, before this debate is completed I would like to hear from the Government that a couple of those figures have been checked out.

There has been a claim that there will be a call centre in Newcastle with 155 people in it and there will be another call centre in the ACT with 155 people in it - 310 people taking airline reservations. I have seen newspaper clippings about the Newcastle operation which say that there are about a quarter of a million passenger movements. By my calculation, if they are going to put a call centre in there with 155 people, each person working at the call centre is going to book four tickets a day. Can I get a job there when I finish here?

Ms Carnell: Yes, if that is what you want to do.

MR QUINLAN: It is the money. Tell me about the money. I have asked about that. I have said, "How many passenger movements do you think we are going to get?". Even if we increased it fourfold or so, having 310 people booking tickets for what will then be a very modest airline seems to be a large number. Before the debate finishes, could the Government please reconcile those numbers and put my mind at peace. For Mr Rugendyke's benefit, that is the sort of information that we want to tease out because we want to check out what we have heard.

Ms Carnell: Have you asked them?

MR QUINLAN: Yes. I have not got a proper answer yet, quite frankly. I have asked. One other thing that I would like to get from the Government before the debate finishes, if it is possible, relates to the $8m that we are going to put out for the construction of physical assets at the airport. We would like to know what is the legal structure - - -

Ms Carnell: They will own them.

MR QUINLAN: Impulse will own them, even though they are attached to another lease. The lease is going to be owned by the airport, but these facilities will be out of it.

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