1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,520
Speaker 1: Well, the nation's third largest airline has gone into voluntary

2
00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:08,240
Speaker 1: administration and that has caused issues today for travelers. All

3
00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:13,000
Speaker 1: domestic seven three seven services between capital cities are grounded.

4
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:18,520
Speaker 1: Virgin Australia offering to rebook affected customers on equivalent flights

5
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,440
Speaker 1: free of charge. The regional towns around certainly around essay,

6
00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,759
Speaker 1: at least at this stage unaffected. What does it look

7
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: like moving forward. Let's have a chat with Keith Tomkin,

8
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,560
Speaker 1: who's managing director Aviation Projects. Keith, good morning, thank you

9
00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:32,000
Speaker 1: for your time.

10
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:33,600
Speaker 2: Good morning, Matthew.

11
00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,080
Speaker 1: Not a good day for aviation and I suppose just

12
00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,720
Speaker 1: in the last few days this seemed inevitable.

13
00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:41,760
Speaker 3: Yes, not just the.

14
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,720
Speaker 2: Last few days, the last few months with BONDSA going

15
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,159
Speaker 2: into liquidation as well. And yeah, those main routes that

16
00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,239
Speaker 2: were serviced by the seven three seven aircraft operations have

17
00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:56,920
Speaker 2: been stopped, but regionally the S three forties continue to

18
00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,000
Speaker 2: fly and some of the other parts of the business

19
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,280
Speaker 2: continue as well. The best news out of what is

20
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:02,840
Speaker 2: a pretty difficult situation for the.

21
00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,680
Speaker 1: Airline is that likely to continue, so regional services will

22
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,040
Speaker 1: remain unaffected well forever in the day.

23
00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,640
Speaker 2: I think for the fake of the people that rely

24
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,840
Speaker 2: on those services for all sorts of different things. That

25
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,520
Speaker 2: those the regional turboprop operations continue.

26
00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:19,600
Speaker 4: And I suspect that they will.

27
00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:25,640
Speaker 2: It's important to the country and generally they operate relatively sustainably,

28
00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,200
Speaker 2: so I expect that they will continue.

29
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,360
Speaker 1: Yes, we've seen a number of players trying to get

30
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,440
Speaker 1: in there with Virgin and Quantus and nothing has worked

31
00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,039
Speaker 1: so far trying to become a third carrier. What's the

32
00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 1: issue with that? What goes wrong?

33
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,240
Speaker 2: I think the model at Rex had made sense to me.

34
00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,160
Speaker 2: They were trying to connect up those regional turboprop operations

35
00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 2: with a mainline service that connected all of the major

36
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,360
Speaker 2: ports to those regional areas and allowed people to book

37
00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:56,720
Speaker 2: from one place to another where otherwise they wouldn't be

38
00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,360
Speaker 2: able to travel on the same airline. We know that

39
00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:04,080
Speaker 2: Virgin started in amongst Anset and Quantus and one of

40
00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,280
Speaker 2: those two had to go, and that was Anset eventually.

41
00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,760
Speaker 2: And it does seem that it's very hard to get

42
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,960
Speaker 2: a sustainable third major airline operating in the country.

43
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is it. Our size, our population. I suppose

44
00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:18,560
Speaker 1: they're big contributing factors.

45
00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:22,519
Speaker 2: Well, they're all part of it. Part of it's the

46
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:24,799
Speaker 2: cost model, and part of it's the revenue model, and

47
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,240
Speaker 2: seemingly the seven three seven part of the business wasn't

48
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,320
Speaker 2: sustainable based on whatever the metrics were that Rex was

49
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,360
Speaker 2: applying to the business. So what happened from here? We

50
00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,520
Speaker 2: expect that the seven three sevens won't continue, and that

51
00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 2: there will be someone else, I'm sure who'll come along

52
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,119
Speaker 2: with another idea and the money to spend to try

53
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:46,720
Speaker 2: and have another go at it.

54
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:47,480
Speaker 3: In the future.

55
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, So all right now, Virgin offering free flights to

56
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,920
Speaker 1: people affected today, which is a pretty good move on

57
00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,040
Speaker 1: their part and a smart move, I guess, trying to

58
00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,600
Speaker 1: pick up that share of the business maybe into the future,

59
00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,400
Speaker 1: but at least that's on offer for people who are stranded.

60
00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a very nice gesture from the airline

61
00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,440
Speaker 2: to do that, particularly for people who rely on traveling

62
00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,280
Speaker 2: for all sorts of important reasons. To be able to

63
00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,080
Speaker 2: hop on an aeroplane and go and do that flying

64
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,880
Speaker 2: for whatever it was, who's very valuable to the people

65
00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:20,680
Speaker 2: that are affected, I'm sure, But I know that that

66
00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:22,720
Speaker 2: one continue. So there will be people out in the

67
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,239
Speaker 2: future who will need to rebook or replan their trips.

68
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely staff affected. Now I imagine there's probably hundreds

69
00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:31,240
Speaker 1: of people.

70
00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,000
Speaker 2: I expect there are hundreds of people affected. What it

71
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,440
Speaker 2: means we don't know, but I have seen some reporting

72
00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,520
Speaker 2: that people aren't able to go and procure services that

73
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,600
Speaker 2: they would rely on to continue to conduct their business.

74
00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,760
Speaker 2: So it remains to be seen who's affected and what

75
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:49,800
Speaker 2: that means for the future.

76
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,760
Speaker 1: There's more to come on this today and a decision

77
00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,920
Speaker 1: on its future. Should the government step in and save REX.

78
00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,640
Speaker 2: I'm not sure that all of REX will need to

79
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,200
Speaker 2: be saved. I guess that's part of the administrator's decision

80
00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,520
Speaker 2: making process to go through and understand what's what's good,

81
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,280
Speaker 2: what's bad, what needs to change. The seven three seven

82
00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,440
Speaker 2: business is seemingly unlikely to continue, and a lot of

83
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,160
Speaker 2: the regional services are already underwritten by state governments and

84
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,719
Speaker 2: on know, local governments also provide offsets to costs where

85
00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,600
Speaker 2: they want to incentivize those operations. So I expect that

86
00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:31,480
Speaker 2: the regional turboprop business will continue. It may need some support,

87
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,040
Speaker 2: it might not, but there'll be other parts of the

88
00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,880
Speaker 2: business that will continue business as usual without any support.

89
00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:37,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well, it remains to be seen. More

90
00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:39,760
Speaker 1: on this to come out over the course of the day,

91
00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,360
Speaker 1: So Keith really appreciate your time this morning and insights.

92
00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:45,080
Speaker 2: Thank you very welcome.

93
00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 1: Keith Tonkan there who's managing director Aviation Projects on the

94
00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,040
Speaker 1: well seemingly demise of REX at least between capitals regional

95
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,599
Speaker 1: operations at this stage unaffected, but more to come during

96
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 1: the course of today in the next few days, no doubt.

97
00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:02,599
Speaker 1: Let us know how you feel, particularly if you're listening

98
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,040
Speaker 1: out in the regions. I was on a REX flight

99
00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,599
Speaker 1: to Sojuna a couple of months ago and it was great,

100
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:13,919
Speaker 1: great service, the hosting on board fantastic on both flights

101
00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,600
Speaker 1: and wonderful great experience. But sad to see a third

102
00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,800
Speaker 1: carrier at least going around nationally in the domestic market.

103
00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,240
Speaker 1: Seems that just can't get up in Australia no matter

104
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,920
Speaker 1: who it is. Love to get your thoughts, particularly out

105
00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,680
Speaker 1: in the regions, and the Transport Workers Union just in

106
00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,880
Speaker 1: the last minute have put out im medialy saying administrator

107
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,120
Speaker 1: indicates there will be six hundred and ten job losses

108
00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,800
Speaker 1: at REX and that's not good, not good at all.

109
00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,000
Speaker 1: Sean de brun Is, CEO Tourism Industry Council here in

110
00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,640
Speaker 1: South Australia. Sean, good morning, thank you for your time.

111
00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,200
Speaker 1: And the regions at the moment seem or the flights

112
00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,440
Speaker 1: the areas they fly to seem unaffected.

113
00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what we're hearing as well, mat too, that

114
00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:05,520
Speaker 3: the services to you know, our regional communities are unaffected.

115
00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,640
Speaker 3: It's the capital city services that are impacted at the moment,

116
00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:13,880
Speaker 3: and it's incredibly important to us, particularly the communities of

117
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,240
Speaker 3: koober Pedi and Sijuna that only have an air service

118
00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:18,680
Speaker 3: that's delivered by wreck.

119
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,159
Speaker 1: So they need they go to Broken Hill as well.

120
00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,839
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if they fly down to Mount Gambia also.

121
00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,360
Speaker 3: They're used to. My understanding is they don't go to

122
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,760
Speaker 3: Mount Gamber anymore. But yeah, obviously they do go in

123
00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:32,880
Speaker 3: to break New too. And so those air services are

124
00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,600
Speaker 3: and as you said, just taunt to someone in Sajuna

125
00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,760
Speaker 3: earlier this morning, and you know, the load factors and

126
00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,200
Speaker 3: the number of people that are catching the services are

127
00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,640
Speaker 3: really strong into Sjoura, at least anecdotally pso. And so

128
00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,400
Speaker 3: there's no reason why it shouldn't be good business for

129
00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:49,400
Speaker 3: the upright operation.

130
00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,039
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, the flight I was there in and

131
00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,599
Speaker 1: out on the Friday. Out on the Sunday was almost

132
00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,120
Speaker 1: for I think there was one seat left both times,

133
00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:02,680
Speaker 1: so they certainly people do use it, no doubt about it.

134
00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's not just for tourism. It's also really

135
00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,400
Speaker 3: an essential service. There's a lot of people that rely

136
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,760
Speaker 3: on the regional air service across the state for medical appointments.

137
00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,480
Speaker 3: They rely to then get on further into the state,

138
00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:23,000
Speaker 3: you find the Sojoona sometimes is the destination. Sometimes it's

139
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:24,840
Speaker 3: a stop off point to go into other parts of

140
00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,880
Speaker 3: the state and the same So it's incredibly important for

141
00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,920
Speaker 3: our regional communities and it's really important for our tourism industry.

142
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,119
Speaker 1: Absolutely. How's tourism going in general terms at the moment,

143
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:34,960
Speaker 1: Sean here.

144
00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:40,000
Speaker 3: In Essay, it's pretty patchy. I was just on Kangar

145
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:44,000
Speaker 3: Island actually earlier this week. We're hearing a similar message

146
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:48,520
Speaker 3: from tourism businesses. There's some that are happy and business

147
00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,560
Speaker 3: is strong for winter, but there's many that are saying

148
00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,760
Speaker 3: it's an extremely quiet winter and businesses significantly down on

149
00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 3: even pre COVID winter levels. It's a tough time for

150
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:02,920
Speaker 3: most tourism businesses across the state.

151
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,200
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, well, I imagine for a place particularly like Sojuna,

152
00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,040
Speaker 1: where you can then head off to the head of

153
00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,720
Speaker 1: the bike for instance, and check out whales at different

154
00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 1: times of the year, or go and explore the Nulla

155
00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: boar or whatever you do. Head the other way down

156
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,760
Speaker 1: to Streaky Bay or Smoky Bay. Then just absolutely vital

157
00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,280
Speaker 1: for the tourism of the West Coast. So and I'm

158
00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,000
Speaker 1: sure Broken Hill in the regions around there exactly the same.

159
00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:33,240
Speaker 1: And off to Kuba PD two, the open fields towns

160
00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,840
Speaker 1: into the outback people that want to travel around to

161
00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,600
Speaker 1: and Amuka or wherever else they might be going to

162
00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,520
Speaker 1: Udnadata as well. It's just absolutely vital.

163
00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,280
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely. And that's one thing that makes us think

164
00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,080
Speaker 3: so special is that we have, as you've just listed,

165
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:53,200
Speaker 3: so many amazing experiences so easily accessible from Adelaide, you know,

166
00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:55,640
Speaker 3: jumping on a really great service like the wreck service.

167
00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:57,760
Speaker 3: And we really feel for the staff at this time

168
00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,840
Speaker 3: as well, as they are incredible teams deliver great services

169
00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,360
Speaker 3: to their customers every day, and you know, we're really

170
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,800
Speaker 3: hopeful that there will be a buyer found and those

171
00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,400
Speaker 3: services will continue, and we're really keen to see what

172
00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,840
Speaker 3: the opportunities are to better support regional air services into

173
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:17,839
Speaker 3: our amazing places across the state.

174
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,720
Speaker 1: Good on your Sewan, thanks for your time. Thanks match

175
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,720
Speaker 1: Sewan de brun CEO Tourism Industry Council. Are Rex Patrick,

176
00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:29,120
Speaker 1: former Essay Senator, has some thoughts on this. Rex good morning,

177
00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,280
Speaker 1: Good morning. Should the federal government step in here and

178
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,160
Speaker 1: save Rex Well.

179
00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,920
Speaker 5: We must understand that regional air services, as Shawn indicated,

180
00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 5: is an essential service. It's essential for businesses, including tourism.

181
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,679
Speaker 5: It's essential for medical services, it's essential for education services.

182
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,559
Speaker 5: It's essential for keeping families being able to reconnect from

183
00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,640
Speaker 5: time to time. And what happens when these services disappear.

184
00:09:57,679 --> 00:09:59,400
Speaker 5: One of the first things that happens is you put

185
00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,240
Speaker 5: more people on to the road and that's less safe.

186
00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:04,520
Speaker 5: And the other thing that happens is people who are

187
00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,240
Speaker 5: in these communities and it's hard to get professionals out

188
00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,680
Speaker 5: into these communities, they simply walk away. They becomes too

189
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,760
Speaker 5: hard for them to be able to sort of work

190
00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,640
Speaker 5: and operate, and so they just eventually abandon the regions

191
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:20,720
Speaker 5: and that's no good for anyone. So the government has

192
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:25,720
Speaker 5: to make sure that we do not lose these regional services.

193
00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,240
Speaker 1: They are critical investing in Rex, though. If they did that,

194
00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:34,560
Speaker 1: I mean we privatize quonscious. If we then buy a

195
00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,320
Speaker 1: part of another airline, well surely at some point in

196
00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,400
Speaker 1: the future a future government will sell it off again.

197
00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,959
Speaker 5: If there's a need for us to inject taxpayers money

198
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,720
Speaker 5: into res that may well be required. But if that

199
00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,160
Speaker 5: is the case, the last thing I want to do

200
00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:56,000
Speaker 5: is give that money to Rex's investors. They're at a

201
00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:58,800
Speaker 5: low point of this particular time, and at some future

202
00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:02,560
Speaker 5: time they may well be trading in a much stronger position.

203
00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,200
Speaker 5: So if we are to give money to Rex to

204
00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,160
Speaker 5: keep the services flowing, we should be making sure we

205
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,880
Speaker 5: do take an equity stake, and that way, as the

206
00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,439
Speaker 5: airline recovers, gets into a better position. Actually, tax payers

207
00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,800
Speaker 5: can end up profiting through the equity stake, so we

208
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 5: need to be careful about how this is done. But

209
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,960
Speaker 5: I'd hate to sell us just gifting money to private investors.

210
00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,400
Speaker 1: All right, even to keep it a flat I mean

211
00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,080
Speaker 1: tw saying six hundred and ten jobs to go, that's

212
00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:36,160
Speaker 1: a tremendous blow.

213
00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:41,760
Speaker 5: Well, again, by injecting or taking an equity steak, you

214
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,680
Speaker 5: can you can put the money in to save those jobs,

215
00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:49,320
Speaker 5: to save those flights without just giving the money away.

216
00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:51,800
Speaker 5: And there's other things the federal government can do as well.

217
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,880
Speaker 5: You know, we've seen over the last couple of years

218
00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:57,679
Speaker 5: as we came out of COVID, a lot of the

219
00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:01,280
Speaker 5: regional airlines have had security screening imposed upon them. And

220
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,960
Speaker 5: if that's required, then that's required. But unfortunately what's happened

221
00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 5: is they've forced the local councils to bear the cost

222
00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,480
Speaker 5: of those sorts of services. So in Wyala, the councils

223
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,760
Speaker 5: bearing the cost of those security services. The flights are

224
00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,040
Speaker 5: fifty dollars more expensive because of that, and that caused

225
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,920
Speaker 5: Rex to pull out out of what was a profitable market.

226
00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,440
Speaker 5: And just decisions like that made in Canberra in a

227
00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:32,600
Speaker 5: bubble can be really harmful. You can have people who

228
00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,520
Speaker 5: now pay fifty cents to walk through security screening in

229
00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:39,480
Speaker 5: Sydney Airport paying sixty cents and then the person in

230
00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:43,160
Speaker 5: Whyler paying sixty cents. The national security issue it ought

231
00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:46,120
Speaker 5: to be treated on a national basis and these are

232
00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:49,040
Speaker 5: the sorts of things where regions get hammered all of

233
00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:49,520
Speaker 5: the time.

234
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,120
Speaker 1: Indeed, so they put on a big charge like that

235
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,440
Speaker 1: at Wayala, the airline didn't pick that up. It wasn't

236
00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,600
Speaker 1: obviously passing it on the Council was no.

237
00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,400
Speaker 5: See And one of the divities in that instance was

238
00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,880
Speaker 5: that Rex Airlines has the three forty, which has fewer

239
00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:12,920
Speaker 5: than forty seats. Quantus were flying the Quantislink aircraft, which

240
00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:16,320
Speaker 5: have more than forty seats. There was no requirement from

241
00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,280
Speaker 5: the government to actually security screen the Rex flights, but

242
00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,800
Speaker 5: there was for Quantas, and that left left them in

243
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,680
Speaker 5: a position where if Quantus were to bear all of

244
00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,960
Speaker 5: the cost, their prices would be significantly higher. But Rex

245
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,120
Speaker 5: were saying, well, hang on, we're a competitor, we don't

246
00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:39,640
Speaker 5: need these services. Y impose a levy upon us, And

247
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,000
Speaker 5: in the end they walked away from the market. And

248
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,840
Speaker 5: we've seen the numbers for a while. I recently foied

249
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:50,479
Speaker 5: the numbers for passengers in YR and they've substantially decreased

250
00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:52,360
Speaker 5: as a result of Rex leaving the market.

251
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,920
Speaker 1: Unsurprisingly, Rex appreciate your time, Thank you, Thank you, Rix

252
00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:01,040
Speaker 1: Patrick for Senator Peter malinowskis the Premiere has just been

253
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 1: on Sky News just in the last few minutes and

254
00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:05,439
Speaker 1: he was asked about Rex and what it means for

255
00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:07,360
Speaker 1: South Australia. This is what he had to say.

256
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,319
Speaker 6: But in terms of the long term, look, let's be

257
00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,200
Speaker 6: frank about it. I think, you know, it's not ideal

258
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,640
Speaker 6: for governments finding themselves having to subsidize commercial operations. I

259
00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:19,000
Speaker 6: think they should be avoided as best as possible. It's

260
00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,320
Speaker 6: just not the sort of practice I think we want

261
00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,320
Speaker 6: to be getting into the Habitat. That being said, I

262
00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,280
Speaker 6: think I do think it's important we acknowledge that what

263
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,800
Speaker 6: RES do in some roots is a genuine community service,

264
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,800
Speaker 6: particularly for those far isolated communities. It's not just about

265
00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,120
Speaker 6: connectivity economically or even socially. You know, sometimes we or

266
00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,280
Speaker 6: not sometimes regularly. REX passengers are people who are getting

267
00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:49,040
Speaker 6: transported from a regional center to a major metropolitan community

268
00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,600
Speaker 6: to have important surgery non urgent elective surgery, or cancer

269
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:55,760
Speaker 6: treatment or whatever it might be. So, look, it is

270
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:57,480
Speaker 6: an important service. I think we're going to keep a

271
00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,200
Speaker 6: breast of the breast of the situation, but no, it

272
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,800
Speaker 6: is rex's regional operations in the past have been quite profitable,

273
00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 6: so there is reason to believe that that can occur

274
00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:09,800
Speaker 6: into the future. And that's why I think a very

275
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,360
Speaker 6: very detailed analysis needs to be conducted around what led

276
00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,280
Speaker 6: to this situation because it may not be the regional operations,

277
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,160
Speaker 6: it might be something more metropolin orientated.

278
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,280
Speaker 1: Let's have a chat with doctor Peter Rishbeth, who's called

279
00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,120
Speaker 1: in on this rural doctor I think on KI Peter, good.

280
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:29,240
Speaker 4: Morning, Good morning. Look. One of the issues is many

281
00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:32,280
Speaker 4: doctors have been not able to get to regional censers

282
00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,920
Speaker 4: like Waler and Mount Gamber start operating this and consulting

283
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:41,320
Speaker 4: because of the loss of flights to these sensors. So

284
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,480
Speaker 4: because of the timing, it's not been economical for them

285
00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,360
Speaker 4: to visit, so services have been withdrawn for those visiting

286
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:49,680
Speaker 4: professionals coming.

287
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:50,560
Speaker 3: To those rural areas.

288
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,600
Speaker 4: The other issue that's happened is that patients obviously can't

289
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:59,480
Speaker 4: get to Adelaide easily. It costs four hundred and ninety

290
00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,600
Speaker 4: nine dollars is to have a Quantums flight from Kingscoate

291
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:07,400
Speaker 4: to Adelaide under the current Quantus fares. What happened was

292
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,200
Speaker 4: Quantus actually cut the fairs quite significantly and ran Rex

293
00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,480
Speaker 4: out of business at Kango Island. So it just wasn't

294
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:17,360
Speaker 4: economical for Rex to keep on going because Quantus squeezed

295
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,360
Speaker 4: them out. So for those people who live on Kango

296
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:22,600
Speaker 4: Island have to go up to appointments. If the ferry

297
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,800
Speaker 4: is canceled, especially in the winter time with the storms

298
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:26,680
Speaker 4: and wet weather.

299
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:28,160
Speaker 1: And things and servicing fort.

300
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,120
Speaker 4: And no service available or limited flights with quantess, then

301
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,840
Speaker 4: they are really disadvantaged. So is essentially we have a

302
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,800
Speaker 4: regional airline that is supported for these communities to be

303
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:41,840
Speaker 4: viable and to attract people to live and work in

304
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:43,359
Speaker 4: regional South Australia.

305
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:47,600
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and that's becoming more and more to the four

306
00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,960
Speaker 1: I think with this announcement today and what happens if

307
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,520
Speaker 1: they actually do pull out of the regions. Hopefully they don't.

308
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:55,040
Speaker 1: Thank you, Peter, thanks for calling in