❓ Ms. Beard questions whether REX is fulfilling its contractual obligations. Minister Saffioti affirms she is seeking advice and emphasizes the importance of supporting the entire aviation market for long-term accessibility and affordability.
AnsweredQoN 441Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
REX
AIRLINES — INTRASTATE AIR ROUTES
441. Ms M. BEARD to the Minister for Transport:
I have a supplementary question. Has
the minister sought advice on whether Rex is fulfilling its contractual
obligations under its deed of agreement with the government?
AIRLINES — INTRASTATE AIR ROUTES
441. Ms M. BEARD to the Minister for Transport:
I have a supplementary question. Has
the minister sought advice on whether Rex is fulfilling its contractual
obligations under its deed of agreement with the government?
AnswerView source ↗
Yes, and I continue to seek advice
on its obligations. It is always easy to criticise, but we always have to worry
about the longer term repercussions of what we do. In many instances, what we
might want to do in the short term could
have a longer term impact on the accessibility and affordability of air travel
in Western Australia. We continue to work with all of them. There would
not be one airline that has not disappointed or surprised me, but we continue
to work with them to try to ride out the challenges. Our intrastate aviation
market is something that we need to grow and support. I have always said that
we can be compared with other places; for example, Queensland has far more
flights available. That is why we are trying to underpin the Western Australian
intrastate market with more activity through the capped airfare scheme. We have
seen more activity and we will continue to provide support. The only way that
we can continue to drive reliability, bigger aircraft and more services is by
supporting the entire aviation market. That is what I am committed to. All our
initiatives are about looking at the entire industry and asking how we can make
that industry grow stronger. I want to be like other states and have a lot of
aircraft in the air servicing our markets.
Mr P.J. Rundle interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Roe, you did
not ask this question and we have already had a supplementary q uestion.
Minister, I will ask you to ignore that comment.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI : Sure.
People will have criticised every
airline over the past six years. What should we do—just get rid of them
and then wait while people say that there are no aircraft servicing their
towns? Is that what members opposite want to do? That cannot be done,
particularly in aviation. It is not like getting a bus. We have to get the
aircraft, the pilots and the entire infrastructure. It is a sophisticated
market. We have to continually support the entire industry. As I said, why have
capped airfares? It is about two things: affordability and growing the market.
Fundamentally, we have to have more people flying in Western Australia so that
these flights can get momentum of their own. That is what has happened
successfully in other parts of the nation.
We are working really
constructively, and I continue to work constructively, because I support having
a strong, reliable aviation market. That is why all the policies we have put in
place, and will continue to put in place, are to drive a much more economic and
active aviation market in Western Australia.
on its obligations. It is always easy to criticise, but we always have to worry
about the longer term repercussions of what we do. In many instances, what we
might want to do in the short term could
have a longer term impact on the accessibility and affordability of air travel
in Western Australia. We continue to work with all of them. There would
not be one airline that has not disappointed or surprised me, but we continue
to work with them to try to ride out the challenges. Our intrastate aviation
market is something that we need to grow and support. I have always said that
we can be compared with other places; for example, Queensland has far more
flights available. That is why we are trying to underpin the Western Australian
intrastate market with more activity through the capped airfare scheme. We have
seen more activity and we will continue to provide support. The only way that
we can continue to drive reliability, bigger aircraft and more services is by
supporting the entire aviation market. That is what I am committed to. All our
initiatives are about looking at the entire industry and asking how we can make
that industry grow stronger. I want to be like other states and have a lot of
aircraft in the air servicing our markets.
Mr P.J. Rundle interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Roe, you did
not ask this question and we have already had a supplementary q uestion.
Minister, I will ask you to ignore that comment.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI : Sure.
People will have criticised every
airline over the past six years. What should we do—just get rid of them
and then wait while people say that there are no aircraft servicing their
towns? Is that what members opposite want to do? That cannot be done,
particularly in aviation. It is not like getting a bus. We have to get the
aircraft, the pilots and the entire infrastructure. It is a sophisticated
market. We have to continually support the entire industry. As I said, why have
capped airfares? It is about two things: affordability and growing the market.
Fundamentally, we have to have more people flying in Western Australia so that
these flights can get momentum of their own. That is what has happened
successfully in other parts of the nation.
We are working really
constructively, and I continue to work constructively, because I support having
a strong, reliable aviation market. That is why all the policies we have put in
place, and will continue to put in place, are to drive a much more economic and
active aviation market in Western Australia.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.