Addressing the House of Representatives this week, Liberal MP Ben Small said airport facilities at the gateway to the Margaret River wine region were not up to standard.
“At the current state of play, there are people waiting to board a flight who can’t even clear security because the cleared zone is so small that just two flights at once means there’s insufficient standing room for people to clear security,” Small claimed.
“That’s how parlous it has become, and it isn’t exactly the sort of world-class experience that you’d hope for the people who travel to Margaret River for a premium tourism experience.”
Additionally, Small said that the airport played a crucial role for the state’s mining industry, acting as a FIFO gateway.
“Some 5,000 plus FIFO workers in the south-west leave their families and leave our community to travel to the far north of WA to work for weeks at a time in the iron ore mines that generate billions of dollars for the Commonwealth and the state of Western Australia.”
The city of Busselton missed out on the government’s recently announced $4.8 million relief package to regional and remote airports, which was provided to 34 airports nation-wide.
The package was designed to support financial debts linked to Rex Airlines going into voluntary administration.
Meanwhile, tourism was also in the spotlight for South Australia, with Liberal MP Tom Venning criticising the government for cutting the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants Program in its recent budget, calling the scheme “a vital lifeline for regional wine businesses.”
The Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant is a federal support scheme designed to help wineries and cider producers that drive visitation to regional wine areas through cellar-door sales and tourism experiences.
Administered by Wine Australia on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, it was viewed as a key means of driving wine tourism to the country’s regions – with SA the largest beneficiary.
The $10 million program was initially launched in 2017 by the Federal Govt, led by Malcolm Turnbull.
Last year, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins extended the program by another three years, but cut this year.
