Mr KELVIN THOMSON(10.40 p.m.) —I rise to expose the latest furphies, the four fabulous furphies, being pedalled by the Essendon Airport Chamber of Commerce in their attempt to defend the continued existence of that unsafe and out-of-date airport. The first furphy is: some day we will make money. It sounds a bit like the Spectrum song, Some day I'll have money . They say, `If you leave us there, we're going to turn a profit sooner or later.'

If you look at the FAC's latest report, they lost $1.114 million dollars, and that does not even include interest. Going back over the years, I estimate that their losses in interest or their failure to repay interest since 1988 has been $21½ million. Add to that another $$9 million in actual losses, and since 1988 they have lost $30 million. It is laughable. They have a piece of land bigger than Melbourne's CBD and they say, `Well, let us keep it, we'll only make a small loss.'

The second furphy is the air ambulance furphy. The air ambulance provides an important community service. But to say that it has to continue out of Essendon airport is false for a number of reasons. The Victorian air ambulance comprises five to six Titan propeller aircraft operated by Southern Australia Airlines, in turn owned by Qantas, which has all the necessary facilities at Melbourne airport, Tullamarine. Its counterpart in New South Wales, the air ambulance, a larger service, has operated out of Mascot for many years without accident. The air ambulance flights there are given priority, and the Victorian Titan aircraft are compatible with Tullamarine operational requirements.

While the New South Wales service has never had an accident at Mascot, a Victorian air ambulance crashed under powerlines on the northern perimeter of Essendon airport back in 1986 killing everyone on board. There are too many hazards around Essendon airport, which is a fully built-up residential area. Melbourne airport has a fire and rescue service; Essendon airport does not. Melbourne airport has a 24-hour control tower service; Essendon airport does not.

The third furphy is the Tullamarine chaos furphy. To this end, a reckless and bogus experiment was conducted by one of the flying schools a few weeks ago where they said, `We flew eight light planes into the Tullamarine airport and to land them there was chaos.' If I were to park a semitrailer across the Tullamarine Freeway and use the resultant traffic jam as evidence that Citylink and tolls would not work, that would be dismissed—and rightly so—as just a stunt.

In any event, of the eight aircraft involved, only three, I understand, were suitable types for relocation to Melbourne airport if Essendon were to close—the three twin-engine aircraft. The other five were single-engine aircraft; they were not entitled to push for clearance, as claimed, because they were not RPT aircraft. But, despite that, it appears that six of the eight aircraft did get a landing clearance and landed during the stated period. Those involved in that so-called test run not only attempted disruption at Melbourne airport by inflicting the eight light piston-engine aircraft into the flow of jet traffic during a peak period but also issued grossly misleading press releases to hoodwink the public—and their actions are entirely irresponsible.

The fourth furphy is the noise over Essendon furphy and the claim that, if Essendon were to close, that space would become used by the Tullamarine jets. Melbourne airport's aircraft take off to the south and turn right not because of Essendon airport but because Melbourne airport noise abatement procedures require that they take off over the less populous non-urban areas west and north of the airport. Also, the vast majority of airport take-offs are headed for destinations west or north of Melbourne, except those heading south to Tasmania or Antarctica. Why on earth is an aircraft going to turn left to the east over densely populated areas for no purpose? So this is a furphy also.

Finally, it is disgraceful that Senator McGauran should say that this is an issue for the National Party—`Oh, we've had a bad result in Gippsland West, so we've got to do something about our constituency.' They are the people who have stood by and let the Kennett government close schools, let the Kennett government close hospitals and let the Kennett government close railway lines. They have done nothing to stand up for their constituency, and now Senator McGauran says, `Oh, we've got to do something to stand up for our constituency; let's keep Essendon airport open.' What a ludicrous and pathetic ploy which will be seen through both by people in my electorate and by people in country Victoria.