Senator Ross Cadell speaks about Newcastle Airport

Newcastle Herald

Senator Ross Cadell urges Newcastle Airport to focus on the development of new routes and services rather than property development.

Transcript

00:00Senator Cadell. Thank you, Acting Deputy President. There's been a lot of talk in this

00:04chamber over the last 48 hours about scrutiny and about transparency, and I'm going to talk

00:10about a very strange thing tonight about one time the government got it right. I asked a question

00:15on notice, and it was about, has Newcastle Airport sought any rent relief, form of payment or

00:21deferment for the use of facilities at Williamtown in the last 24 months? And wouldn't you know it,

00:2631 days? Just one day after the 30 days, they answered. And the answer was this, it wasn't

00:30a fudge, it was. In the specified time period, rent relief has been sought but not provided to Newcastle

00:36Airport Proprietary Limited. The airport continues to pay rent in defence and a lease in the Commonwealth.

00:42The reason I asked that question, Deputy President, is there was a bit of a he said,

00:45she said moment in the Newcastle media. The Newcastle Herald claimed to have got some documents

00:50that show that Newcastle Airport, jointly owned by Newcastle Council and Port Stephens Council,

00:54was under some financial difficulty. And the airport wrote me a letter, wrote other people,

01:00everything's fine, there's nothing to see here, everything's wonderful, here is the thing,

01:03we're a very sustainable airport with low carbon footprint, we're doing all of these things.

01:09So I thought, two different ways, how do I weigh it up? So I asked this question,

01:13because one of the allegations made in the paper was that, in fact, the airport had sought rent

01:17relief because of its financial position. Here we have it in black and white. From the government,

01:21neutral advisor, the airport had sought rent relief from the Commonwealth for their operations.

01:28Now, when we think about this, why it's important to me, in the lead up to the 2019 election,

01:34and post that, sorry, 22 election it was, the airport was out lobbying for money. They wanted,

01:39there was a runway upgrade and they wanted money for the defence to put in there to make it

01:44a more solid runway extra funding, $60 million, so it could land wide body aircraft for international

01:49flights. And the then Morrison government, through Barnaby Joyce, the infrastructure minister,

01:55made that happen and it was provided, infrastructure money through defence. And they also wanted $55 million

02:02for half of a new airport terminal, for international arrivals, for international visitors to come there.

02:07Now, I must say, I was slightly concerned, because they were talking about inbound tourism to Hunter,

02:12something we're very important about, and I joked at the time that all it would become is a hub for

02:17the Bintang Express, people to get to Bali and back a little bit quicker, no inbound. And that's exactly

02:21what's happened. They've announced one, one international service new. Guess where? Bali, three years later.

02:28Now, what the airport needs to do, it's off being a property developer owned by these things. They're

02:35developing land around the air base. They're taking, and they admit to diverting money from their

02:41things out of budget to the property developing. The money was given by the federal government

02:47not to go property developing. It was to become an international airport, to develop routes through

02:53Singapore, through Asia, to develop routes via the Middle East to Europe, to be another international

02:59airport. And so when we talk about scrutiny, we need to ask the questions, what is the truth? What

03:05has been going on there? I noticed yesterday morning, the Mayor of Newcastle Council was on ABC radio with

03:12Paul Culliver. He's asking questions about the airport. And these are his statements. I have agreed that

03:20I will not, and because of a conflict of interest, I will not comment on the airport, as I explained to

03:25your producer. When pressed further, he stated, following written communication and discussion

03:31with the airport board, I agreed not to make any further comment about the airport. Imagine the Mayor

03:38of one of the equal shareholders not being able to comment on a key asset worth potentially tens of

03:46millions of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, cannot make a comment about something he shares

03:51in the ownership. Why is that? Why are they not coming clear? I'll be honest with you, the airport has

03:56offered to come and me and give me a great briefing and tell me what's going on. What about the ratepayers of

04:01Port Stephens and Newcastle? Why not tell them the state of an asset they take money from? Is the Council,

04:09are the ratepayers potentially on the hook for money? They're talking about negotiating a new debt

04:13facility with Commonwealth Bank. But the Commonwealth Bank isn't that keen. So if you're asking for rent

04:20relief, if you're not getting new financing, something is crook in Trebrook. So all I ask

04:27is that the airport not offer me a briefing, not offer private briefings. Come out and tell what your plan is

04:36to go back to the original one. Don't come down here and ask for $49 million for a freight hub when

04:41you can't pay your own bills. Get on, do your job, become an international airport, focus on being

04:48an airport and not a property developer because it's what the people of the Hunter want to do and it's

04:52what the federal government gave you.

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