Selection of Bills Committee

Bridget McKenzie

I move an amendment to part (b) of the motion:

Omit "14 November 2024", substitute "31 January 2025".

The Sydney Airport Demand Management Amendment Bill 2024—53 pages of legislation—which was handed to the parliament at midday yesterday, makes the biggest change in three decades to the slot-management system, the access, into Sydney airport, our busiest airport in this country.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the crossbenchers, who last year worked with me to set up an inquiry into the Qatar Airways decision, which unmasked the government's lack of action around competition in the aviation sector and around these very longstanding, protected relationships, which, the Prime Minister and Alan Joyce notwithstanding, go back a long time and have had a significant impact on the reliability and price of aviation for everyday Australians.

I believe the significance of this change requires a longer inquiry. I appreciate that the government wants to get this through before going to an election and I don't want to stand in the way of changing a regulatory environment that is costing Australians each and every day, but I do believe that it is this chamber's responsibility to give the committee and stakeholders a chance to have an authentic and genuine engagement with the material, with the bill, and to provide, once again, the Senate and the government with sensible recommendations, as we did with the Senate bilateral air services agreements inquiry last year.

I'm not seeking an endless inquiry. This is a Labor government-controlled legislation inquiry. I know that right now senators and committees are very pressed for time. This will require more than two hearings to do it justice and to get it written and reported on in time for our next sitting date. If there are more submissions than we expect or there are more complexities than we've already uncovered in the brief time we've had the legislation before us, it won't allow us the opportunity to extend the inquiry. That is why I've set the reporting date at 31 January: it's so that the report can be delivered in time for the legislation to appear before the Senate and be debated and moved prior to heading to an election.

I know that the crossbench and the Greens supported the setting up of that bilateral air services agreements committee. It handed down an incredibly sensible array of recommendations. The Harris review has been around for a while. My initial reading of this bill is that it doesn't implement the Harris review recommendations, as the government is running around and saying. It actually only implements a couple of them. So there is some sensible work that can be done by senators, in conjunction with stakeholders, to ensure that the problems with getting access into Sydney, from right around the country, can actually be addressed. So I implore the crossbench and I implore the Greens to reconsider their position on extending the date. It's great to see the chamber has realised this is an issue Australians care about and that we're prepared to now have an inquiry, but let's make it an inquiry that doesn't hold the bill up unnecessarily prior to an election and that actually allows us to do our job and provide sensible recommendations, as this Senate and this particular committee have done in the past. I commend my amendment.

David Pocock

I'd like to thank Senator McKenzie for all her work in shining a light on the shambles that is the slot system at Sydney Airport. This was a focus of her airlines inquiry. Clearly, it's not working. It's disappointing that it's taken the government this long, given the impact that it has—particularly here in the ACT, where we're getting absolutely price gouged to fly 45 minutes to Sydney, which, I'm told, comes down largely to the slot hoarding system. Clearly, there's a need for reform. I thank the government for bringing this forward.

My view is that this can be dealt with in the time that has been proposed, given the urgency of it. This is only one very small part of a broader package of reform that needs to happen, and I'm comfortable that the Senate can deal with those stakeholders and work to have something in place, should the Senate like the legislation that's being proposed this year. I'll be supporting the shorter reporting date, but I do thank Senator McKenzie for all her work.

Sue Lines

The question is the amendment moved by Senator McKenzie to Senator Gallagher's amendment of the Selection of Bills Committee report be agreed to.