Page 1364 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 3 May 2016
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This trade mission was built around a diverse program that will promote opportunities for education, cultural, social, trade and investment links with Canberra and the broader region. The ACT government will continue to proactively engage with the Singapore government and the business community in the lead-up to and beyond the commencement of direct aviation services.
My first day of official engagements in Singapore involved a briefing from Australia’s High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr Philip Green. This covered a range of current issues regarding the bilateral relationship between Australia and Singapore and provided a useful platform for the remainder of our visit. I would like to again thank the high commissioner for his invaluable assistance and, indeed, all of the DFAT officials who have assisted the ACT.
I must admit to a degree of excitement in anticipation of my next official engagement, which was at the Singapore Airlines training centre, to gain an insight into the level of training Singapore Airlines flight and cabin crew go through prior to entering service. The Singapore Airlines training centre was officially opened in 1993 by Singapore’s then deputy prime minister.
All Singapore Airlines staff, both ground and flight crew, go through training at the centre every year to ensure they maintain a high level of knowledge and accreditation, helping Singapore Airlines continue to provide a level of service that other airlines talk about.
Singapore Airlines currently employs just short of 10,000 crew. As we are all aware, on 20 January this year their CEO, Mr Goh, announced at a media conference held at Canberra Airport the decision to fly direct international services from Singapore to Canberra and Canberra to Wellington. These services commence from Singapore on 20 September 2016.
Cooperative marketing campaigns will be undertaken in partnership with Tourism Australia and Singapore Airlines to stimulate inbound leisure and corporate traffic from New Zealand, from Singapore and from hundreds of connecting destinations including throughout South-East Asia, India, China, Europe and the United Kingdom.
The ACT government has committed $1.6 million in our 2015-16 budget over two years to the airline stimulus fund. The fund will support the new tourism cooperative marketing activities and the industry growth partnership plans.
My time in Singapore focused on continuing to build the momentum in our relationship with the Singapore government to support bilateral engagement. My meeting with Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Josephine Teo, reinforced the opportunities that will extend from Canberra and Singapore being directly connected by these new international services. The meeting discussed land transport network policy frameworks and included discussions regarding Singapore’s experiences in developing an efficient public transport network.
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