❓ TOURISM — DIRECT FLIGHTS 701. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Tourism: I refer to the McGowan Labor government's record investment in tourism and its two-year action plan to grow WA's tourism in
AnsweredQoN 701Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TOURISM — DIRECT FLIGHTS
701. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's record
investment in tourism and its two-year action plan to grow WA's tourism
industry and create more tourism jobs. Can the minister update the house on how
this government is implementing this plan and driving efforts to attract more
direct flights to WA?
701. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Tourism:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's record
investment in tourism and its two-year action plan to grow WA's tourism
industry and create more tourism jobs. Can the minister update the house on how
this government is implementing this plan and driving efforts to attract more
direct flights to WA?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for her question and for her interest in
and support for tourism in Western Australia.
At the outset, on behalf of the Minister for Youth, I acknowledge
some of his guests in the public gallery and welcome the students and staff
from Bunbury Catholic College, Peter Moyes Anglican Community School and Perth
College Anglican School for Girls. I hope you have a good day.
We have a two-year action plan developed by industry and the
tourism sector in Western Australia with Tourism WA. As a key element of that,
we have focused on establishing Western Australia as the western gateway to the
nation. To that end, it was really exciting recently to announce that the state
government has created a partnership worth $30 million to create an aviation
fund—a partnership between Tourism WA and Perth Airport to attract new
airline routes into Perth and grow our reputation as a western gateway. This
fund will be used to encourage airlines to fly to WA through marketing support,
airport incentives and other measures. We will employ that Team Perth approach
when we meet and negotiate with airlines and seek opportunities to grow
aviation routes to Western Australia.
I
am also pleased to acknowledge that Tourism Australia is supportive of this
focus and uses the same language, as does
the federal minister now when referring to the objective of WA becoming the
western gateway. As part of that process, we are engaged with a number
of airlines. We are in discussions with China Southern Airlines to extend their
flights to seven days a week; with China Eastern Airlines to try to establish a
direct route from Shanghai to Perth; with both Japanese airlines with a view to
getting one of them to fly to Perth; and, of course, with India. I recently
went to India. That shows us how hard this task is going to be. We are coming
from way back in the field. Very little effort was put into developing new
aviation routes during the boom. We are now trying to make up for lost time in
India. I met with six airlines in India, with the state Minister of Civil
Aviation and with senior executives from six airlines. India is the fastest
growing aviation market in the world. Fifty million Indians flew domestically
last year and 10 million flew internationally. The domestic market is growing
at a rate of 23 per cent per annum and I am told that the international market
is growing at a faster rate. Everyone in the world has been beating a path to
India to try to establish new routes to their home countries, but not Western Australia.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr P. PAPALIA : When we went
there, I was the very first state government representative to meet with
aviation players to try to talk about establishing new routes—the first
one in Western Australia's recent memory. If His Excellency Richard
Court had gone, I would believe that because he is a good supporter of getting
direct flights from Japan and he is working closely with the state government's
efforts to make WA the western gateway, so I would believe that perhaps he went
before me. However, when we went, one of the key indicators for how little
effort had been made was the sum total of knowledge of Western Australia among
the senior aviation executives.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Vasse!
Mr P. PAPALIA : When asked
what they knew about Western Australia, the one thing they all said
consistently, apart from the member for
Jandakot being quite famous—I am sure they know the member for Pilbara
too—was that the WACA has a bouncy
wicket. That is about the extent of it. That is how little they knew. We need
to get out there and work on it. I am very happy that we have this $30
million aviation fund. I have called on both sides of federal politics to
contribute to our aviation fund. I want millions of dollars for Western Australian
taxpayers to help our tourism industry to get new fights. I now expect, and I call
upon, the state opposition to adopt a less whingeing, complaining and negative
approach and, instead, demand that both sides of federal politics join us in
demanding —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Vasse! I call you to order for shouting for the first time.
Mr P. PAPALIA : —
millions of dollar to contribute to the Western Australian aviation fund.
and support for tourism in Western Australia.
At the outset, on behalf of the Minister for Youth, I acknowledge
some of his guests in the public gallery and welcome the students and staff
from Bunbury Catholic College, Peter Moyes Anglican Community School and Perth
College Anglican School for Girls. I hope you have a good day.
We have a two-year action plan developed by industry and the
tourism sector in Western Australia with Tourism WA. As a key element of that,
we have focused on establishing Western Australia as the western gateway to the
nation. To that end, it was really exciting recently to announce that the state
government has created a partnership worth $30 million to create an aviation
fund—a partnership between Tourism WA and Perth Airport to attract new
airline routes into Perth and grow our reputation as a western gateway. This
fund will be used to encourage airlines to fly to WA through marketing support,
airport incentives and other measures. We will employ that Team Perth approach
when we meet and negotiate with airlines and seek opportunities to grow
aviation routes to Western Australia.
I
am also pleased to acknowledge that Tourism Australia is supportive of this
focus and uses the same language, as does
the federal minister now when referring to the objective of WA becoming the
western gateway. As part of that process, we are engaged with a number
of airlines. We are in discussions with China Southern Airlines to extend their
flights to seven days a week; with China Eastern Airlines to try to establish a
direct route from Shanghai to Perth; with both Japanese airlines with a view to
getting one of them to fly to Perth; and, of course, with India. I recently
went to India. That shows us how hard this task is going to be. We are coming
from way back in the field. Very little effort was put into developing new
aviation routes during the boom. We are now trying to make up for lost time in
India. I met with six airlines in India, with the state Minister of Civil
Aviation and with senior executives from six airlines. India is the fastest
growing aviation market in the world. Fifty million Indians flew domestically
last year and 10 million flew internationally. The domestic market is growing
at a rate of 23 per cent per annum and I am told that the international market
is growing at a faster rate. Everyone in the world has been beating a path to
India to try to establish new routes to their home countries, but not Western Australia.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr P. PAPALIA : When we went
there, I was the very first state government representative to meet with
aviation players to try to talk about establishing new routes—the first
one in Western Australia's recent memory. If His Excellency Richard
Court had gone, I would believe that because he is a good supporter of getting
direct flights from Japan and he is working closely with the state government's
efforts to make WA the western gateway, so I would believe that perhaps he went
before me. However, when we went, one of the key indicators for how little
effort had been made was the sum total of knowledge of Western Australia among
the senior aviation executives.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Vasse!
Mr P. PAPALIA : When asked
what they knew about Western Australia, the one thing they all said
consistently, apart from the member for
Jandakot being quite famous—I am sure they know the member for Pilbara
too—was that the WACA has a bouncy
wicket. That is about the extent of it. That is how little they knew. We need
to get out there and work on it. I am very happy that we have this $30
million aviation fund. I have called on both sides of federal politics to
contribute to our aviation fund. I want millions of dollars for Western Australian
taxpayers to help our tourism industry to get new fights. I now expect, and I call
upon, the state opposition to adopt a less whingeing, complaining and negative
approach and, instead, demand that both sides of federal politics join us in
demanding —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Vasse! I call you to order for shouting for the first time.
Mr P. PAPALIA : —
millions of dollar to contribute to the Western Australian aviation fund.
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.