Mr PETER MORRIS (5:31 PM) —This afternoon I want to draw attention to action by the Federal Airports Corporation to massively increase landing charges at Sydney airport for regional airline operators. The effect of that in the Hunter area would be to increase, for instance, charges per passenger for Impulse Airlines from $6 per passenger up to $28 per passenger by the year 2000, and similarly for aircraft operating out of Belmont for Aeropelican the total effect of the increase would be to increase by 332 per cent the cost of the landing charges they would be eligible to pay—in other words, from $135,000 to $450,000 per year.

What that scale of charges constitutes is effectively a strategy to lock regional airline operators out of Sydney airport. The people I represent in the Hunter and on the Central Coast are not going to accept second-class treatment in respect of airline services from this government. We, as non-metropolitan Australians, are as much entitled to easy air access to the international and national airline network as are metropolitan Australians in the Sydney region. Access to that service is critically important for family reasons, for the conduct of business, for industry reasons, for access of our customers to the Hunter region to visit and see the products we sell and to inspect the services we provide, and it is of extreme importance for the growth of our tourism industry.

I call on the Minister for Transport and Regional Development (Mr Vaile) to direct the Minister for Finance and Administration (Mr Fahey), who has now joined in the attack on regional airlines in his newsletter, to cease his attacks on regional airlines and regional airline passengers. I refer to the newsletter put out by the Minister for Finance and Administration in his own electorate entitled `Airport News for Macarthur', March 1998. A paragraph in that reads:

If regional and other smaller flights such as these—

referring to regional and non-scheduled flights—

can be diverted to another airport, perhaps Bankstown, it may be that a second airport is not required for decades to come—it's a possibility that would require detailed investigation.

That is a fallacy from beginning to end. Bankstown is not an alternate airport in terms of service and accessibility for regional airlines. The linkage for regional airlines is into the national airline network and into the international airline network in both its inbound and outbound services.

I also call on the Minister for Transport and Regional Development to direct the Federal Airports Corporation—he has that power under the act—to abandon its proposed increased charges. That matter would be most detrimental to the people I represent, and particularly to the people of the Hunter.

I make one last plea in these few minutes to the Minister for Health and Family Services (Dr Wooldridge). I have spoken in this House several times already in support of the retention of Belmont Medicare office. I have written to the minister this week and I have spoken to the minister this week. It is scheduled to be closed tomorrow. I want to be able to go back to Belmont tomorrow and have a celebration for the people of Belmont. Not for me—it does not matter to me; it is not me that is affected—but the people in the families who need immediate cash payments after they have been to the doctor.

I want him to reverse that decision. I cling to that hope. I am waiting on a response from him. I have indicated to him that there would certainly be recognition of that reversal of opinion. Sure, it would take some courage, but it can be done and in this case it ought to be done. Almost 14,000 signatures have appeared on petitions I have presented to this parliament in support of the retention of that office. That ought to be a clear indication to everybody how important that service is to Australians. They want their Medicare service. They want access to reasonable health care, to quality health care, and they want access to immediate cash payments after they have been to the doctor and paid their bills.

So I appeal to the minister again, remembering also that we have seen from this government in its commitment to health care $800 million stripped from the public hospital system. We have seen a situation where $1.7 billion has been pumped into private health funds when less than one in three people in this country believe that private health funds are value for money. (Time expired)