Reece

At presstime, the polls indicated a very tight result though what is certain is that the difference between the two parties is truly the difference between chalk and cheese. With that in mind we will try and uncover just what would lie in store in the event of a Coalition victory whilst also assessing Labor’s performance this past decade.

After intensive study of the Coalition’s aviation policy, discussions with industry and an in-depth interview with the Coalition shadow Minister for Aviation & Tourism, Mr David Jull (refer p28) it is not difficult to fathom that the Coalition simply has a lot more to offer aviation than has Labor.

For starters, the spectre of the dreaded Safety Tax is essentially put to death. The long term damage that the implementation of the Safety Tax under Labor would render to every facet of General Aviation in this country is absolute to say the least. Besides that there remains the immoral aspects of this extra surcharge on an industry that has already been cut off at the knees by the recession we had to have. The introduction of a Safety Tax upon aviation (and its end users – you and I) just because the government decided to conveniently renege on its promises made to industry via the Bosch Report is immoral, unethical and likely to cause the ruination of hundreds of small GA operators all in the name of gaining extra revenue for an ever greedy Treasury.

The Labor inspired Safety Tax would essentially be unnecessary as the Coalition has agreed to fund whatever operational shortfall the CAA should experience from consolidated revenue. More realistically, though, this will probably be unnecessary from next year as the CAA again produces sufficient profit on its day to day operations as to not need that extra money from either industry or government.

Next year, for instance, the CAA should be better off by around $90m due to fewer retrenchments and widespread cost savings via the dramatic staff/operations cuts of the past two years. This dividend wm finally filter down to industry though only under a Coalition government. Labor though has stated conclusively that it has no intention of letting the Safety Tax issue die when it can obviously see an avenue for further milking of its CAA (and FAC) cash cows. Readers wanting to learn more about how the government is using aviation as a milch cow might be interested in turning to p7 where we update the current situation.

However, putting to death the spectre of the Safety Tax is just one of a raft of benefits a Coalition government would bring to aviation. The avgas cost reduction is probably the most dramatic with private light aircraft owners paying around 18c a litre less for avgas with even greater savings for commercial users. This would reduce the cost of operating a privately owned Cessna 172 by around $8 an hour, $10 for a Cherokee Six and a whopping $35 to $40 for a small commuter such as a Chieftain or Cessna 402. However, hirers of light aircraft might eventually pay a

little more due to the 15%GST being levied on the hiring of the aircraft though the other savings built into the overall Fightback package are such that the GST element may well not be such that it constitutes an automatic 15% increase in the hiring costs. Only time will tell on this one. Another long overdue boost for GA would be the formation of a government-sponsored Aviation Council.

Ministers and their assembled bureaucrats have always had a field day when dealing with the diverse, emotional and almost always counter productive communitythat represents GA in Australia This writer has sat at supposedly ‘united’ action meetings where all that has transpired is that each GA body snipes at the other and fearlessly refuses to budge from any position that may not be totally in favour with their own group’s specific interest. Forget the common good, forget unity- the bureaucrats have had a field day playing these self interest groups off against one another and the end product is a CAA and FAC that whilst making great strides in reform have also become little more than cash registers for an ever greedier government.

Hopefully the Aviation Council would at least bring all these associations together under the one roof to deal with matters of concern on a regular basis with the minister and his senior advisers. That is certainly the hope of David Jull and from people we have spoken with it has also won enthusiastic approval from every sector of the industry.

The airlines also have much to gain from a new government. Whilst much has been done in this area by the ALP in recent years, most of it has been ill timed or executed in the clumsiest manner possible, more for its PR value than what it can really contribute to the development of aviation and tourism within Australia

Deregulation was introduced years later than it should have been. Qantas should have been privatised back around 1987/88 (when Hawke & Keating wanted to but were obstructed by the ‘lunatic left’). Sydney’s parallel runway should be in operation. Adequate terminal facilities for new entrants should have been a major component of any move towards domestic airline deregulation. The FAC and to a lesser extent the CAA, should not have been burdened with such commercially absurd invisible loans that make them nothing more than mere tax collectors for their single shareholder. The amalgamation of Qantas and Australian whilst allowing Ansett entree to the international market was made as an off the cuff statement by a Prime Minister desperately looking for a popularity grabbing headline on the day. His ministers weren’t even aware of what was happening! Is this really any way to run a country?

The Coalition would inherit all of this and thus there is really little left to physically do except oversee a professional float of Qantas and ensure that our international air rights aren’t negotiated away just to appease sectional interests. Moves to audit and reform the troubled CAA would be quickly implemented (refer interview p28) whilst the long term future of the FAC would also be assessed Forgiven much of its absurd ‘paper’ loans it would have to be one of the privatisation gems of the decade.

The airlines would also be significantly ahead without the burden of payroll and sales tax. Our estima,tes put the annual saving alone for a combined QantasAustralian at around $45m and for Ansett at around $26m. Add that to their bottom line and they look pretty good. Air New Zealand claims that last year it saved $NZ54m via the government’s GST and industrial relations package. As this is written we are in the final days of the fourth term of an ALP government in Canberra When you read these words we could well have either more of the same, or a complete, and in our considered opinion, long overdue change in aviation policy. The choice of course was yours.