DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL HEALTH
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TRANSCRIPT

TOPICS: cost of flights to regional centres, Productivity Commission inquiry, access to healthcare, state reimbursement scheme, flight delays and cancellations, impact on visiting specialist appointments, Qantas performance, flight capacities, impacts on regional NSW cities, upcoming hearing dates

MARSHALL

Now, what is the most you've ever paid for a flight? With rising costs, limited availability, it's no surprise that some passengers have to pay thousands to fly from regional centres like Mildura. Well, the new Productivity Commission report has this week said the extraordinary cost of domestic travel, and has found that regional Australians are paying excessive fares to travel within their own state. And many of you will know in Mildura, if you have tried to fly from Mildura to Melbourne or interstate as well, the rising costs of those airfares. The interim report released today found short regional flights were on average a hundred and. Seventy-three percent more expensive per kilometre than major city routes. Dr Anne Webster is the member for Mallee. Good morning.

WEBSTER

Morning Grace. How are you?

MARSHALL

Well, thank you. What are you hearing from locals and the concerns around the costs of flight from towns like Mildura?

WEBSTER

I have heard a lot from people in Mallee, and one of the sectors that really concerns me, and I've spoken about it for a long time now, are those who require healthcare and who have to fly. They don't get an option because they're either too unwell to drive or they're too old to drive, and so they have to fly, and one of the issues with the rising costs of flights is a lot of people don't have that money just sitting around, waiting to be spent on an airfare, and might go through SIRS, the Sunraysia Information Referral Service, who assist people who are unwell who need to get to Melbourne, and they can be reimbursed. SIRS can be reimbursed for those flights. The problem is the Victorian patient transfer refunds have been so low that it just simply has not covered the flights. Then, if you get the breakdown of flights that don't go or they're late - so that people miss their appointments, then that is a huge problem. And like, it's also a reimbursement though, as well. So you have to have that money upfront.

MARSHALL

Yeah, absolutely.

WEBSTER

It can be nine months or more before you are reimbursed. And then we've got the other issue where Mildura is sadly reliant on fly-in, fly-out specialists. They make a plan. Obviously, being a metro specialist, they make a plan to get on the early flight to come to Mildura to see a day's patient wait list, and whether it's for surgery or whether it's for consultation, and the flight has been delayed or doesn't go at all, and you know you can imagine the shizzle that causes for everybody concerned, including the health outcomes. So they are two reasons why I pushed the Productivity Commission to come to Mildura. They did a hearing here, and people from Mildura made submissions to the report. The Commission has now, as you said, come out with an interim report, and they are looking for feedback from that report. So, if people want to get on board, there are comments in there about Mildura and about the issues of flight delays, etc.

MARSHALL

Is that the biggest issue that you were hearing leading into that report? That it was about delays or cost, or was it just not frequent enough as well?

WEBSTER

All, yeah, absolutely, all of the above. And I've met with QantasLink CEO Mark Del Pra on several occasions now, and pointed out to him the issues as I've described to you regarding health, but then the business arrangements as well, and we need more flights, not less, and urging QantasLink to look at returning or introducing flights, because they didn't do it; like there was with Bonza introducing a Queensland flight from Mildura because it is Incredibly popular. The argument that QantasLink have made to me is that it's the cost of these short flights, Melbourne to Melbourne, that mean that it is not financially viable for Qantas to, you know, continue to ramp them up. Well, if you look at the actual profit that they have made, my husband actually said it to me this morning. I haven't read the article myself, but I think it was around $1.2 billion dollars profit. I'm thinking, you know, guys, you can do a little bit more effort out here in the regions and ensure that isolated places like Mildura are well serviced in terms of the number of flights.

MARSHALL

Is there a risk or concern for the future, Ms. Webster? That because of the unviable, what Qantas is saying, what QantasLink is saying, is that these flights could just be completely taken off the table?

WEBSTER

No, I don't believe there is any risk that they will take them all off the table. But they have reduced them. They have told me which ones they were going to reduce, which I've communicated with the airport and spoken with Andrew Elliott many times about these issues. Because, of course, we don't have a train - if a Coalition government gets in, we might have a train by 2029, but flight is the one way that people can get to Melbourne or Sydney, and you know make it to all the appointments that they have. So, and the other point that Andrew Elliott has made to me is that the connection flights to international or to other states are not counted in the QantasLink flights or seats taken up here. That's a problem too. They need to look, you know, in terms of how much these Mildura flights are making for Qantas. They need to also consider that they're making further profit on the flights that people are taking further on from either Melbourne or Sydney. So I think it's a big issue. I'm certainly going to continue pushing Mark Dal Pra. I had one of the pilots show me his file on the flight seating because one one of QantasLink's arguments is that, well, you know, we don't fill the flights in Mildura, so it's really expensive for us. Well, most of the flights that I go on, and I go on a lot, most of the flights that I go on, are full, and the pilot showed me the list of flights, even in that week, that were seventy plus passengers on each flight. So, I'm not prepared to let QantasLink off the link off the hook about all of this. They need to do better, and the Productivity Commission has made it really clear that the things that I've been talking about with you this morning are validated, and that there needs to be action now. Whether that's the government needs to provide additional federal funding to ensure that our regional, remote. Communities, and particularly the larger cities, of which there are about four including Mildura, as well as Wagga and Tamworth and Dubbo and Broken Hill, they are the ones, Australia-wide, that they say have isolation & access issues and must be supported by regular flights. So, the topic is by no means solved, and I would urge people to jump on the website, look for the Productivity Commission interim report, and to be part of the three online meetings that are going to take place.

MARSHALL

So, those registrations for public hearings—they're all online. They're not in person?

WEBSTER

Yes, no, they're all online. So, determinants of regional airfares. If people want to jump on the public inquiry on the Productivity Commission, they can be part of a teams meeting on the 27th of November. So, very soon ... the 30th of November, and then the 2nd of December. So I would urge people if you've had any issues around all of the things that we've been talking about—delays, cancellations, costs—then please get on there and make your views known. Because the Productivity Commission cannot act on what it doesn't know, and your voices are important. Everybody's voice is important, so please use it.

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