Mr ANTHONY (1:23 PM) —I rise today to acknowledge the great contribution of the member for Hume (Mr Sharp), who has just announced his retirement, to the development of Australia's transportation system. I would like put on record that John Sharp will certainly be a loss to the National Party of Australia, he will certainly be a loss to the government and also, I believe, to Australia for the role that he has played—and perhaps any future role that he may have chosen to have played had he stayed in politics. I wish John Sharp, his wife Victoria and their three children all the very best in his future life outside of politics, in whatever field that may be.

John Sharp has spent 14 years in the federal parliament. He originally came into this august institution at the age of 29. He was initially the member for Gilmore and then became the member for Hume. He has held many senior front bench positions but, most importantly, he was shadow spokesperson for transport and regional development for over 10 years. This culminated in his becoming the Minister for Transport and Regional Development for two years in government.

Without doubt all members of this House would recognise the incredible work that the member for Hume did in that period in reforming, in particular, the railway, aviation and transport sectors. Turning first to the area of railways, it is basically through his determination that the establishment of a single access regime will come into place on 1 July 1998. This will allow the free movement of goods and cargo across the three different rail gauges and through the different instrumentalities that are under the control of the states.

The member for Hume was also very successful in leading the privatisation of AN. There are now three new private sector operators of rail systems. Likewise, he has a keen interest in seeing the development of the Sydney-Canberra very fast train and was most instrumental in achieving the ultimate Commonwealth contribution to the Alice Springs-Darwin railway. He also started the privatisation process of the National Rail Corporation.

But it is the area of aviation which really brought John Sharp to the fore, particularly in his period as shadow spokesperson. After the Monarch crash and before the Seaview crash, he pursued the government vigorously to see an improvement in aviation standards across Australia, particularly through the reform of the old Civil Aviation Authority into the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. While he was minister he initiated a complete rewriting of aviation safety regulations and was responsible for appointing a number of new board members to CASA. He was also behind the decision which culminated in the privatisation of a number of our airports, raising over $4 billion which was used to help pay off federal government debt. That privatisation process led to lower charges and increased competition in our aviation sector.

At Mascot airport he was instrumental in introducing the slot landing system, which came into operation in March 1998 and is saving airlines enormous amounts of money, and in reopening Sydney's east-west runway. A long-term operating plan has now been established at Sydney airport and much of that is due to the work that John Sharp did when he was Minister for Transport and Regional Development.

In the area of roads, and this is certainly relevant for the people of Richmond, John Sharp was instrumental in putting together the roads of national importance program through which over $3.1 billion will be spent over the next 10 years upgrading the Pacific Highway north of Hexham right through to Brisbane. Concerning the electorate of Richmond, I pay tribute to the work John Sharp did in ensuring that a number of projects were put into the first budget of the coalition government after it was elected to power. Tomorrow, Friday, the Brunswick Heads bypass, a $21 million bypass of the town of Brunswick Heads, will officially be opened by the new Minister for Transport and Regional Development (Mr Vaile), but great credit goes to John Sharp for actually making it happen. John Sharp was also responsible for the approval of the Chinderah bypass and ultimately for the $224 million Chinderah to Billinudgel project. He also pushed for the introduction of the black spots program.

In the maritime industry, John Sharp played a critical role in turning the ANL shipping line into a profitable business which is now ready for privatisation. He also played a critical role in waterfront reform. I wish John Sharp the very best. He has played an invaluable role for rural Australia and for the National Party. I consider him a good friend and I wish him well.