Mr NAIRN (2:25 PM) —My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the minister advise the House of arrangements the government has put in place, following the appointment of an administrator to Ansett, to provide assistance to Ansett passengers and employees and to help return services to regional areas like Moruya and Merimbula in my electorate?

Mr Sidebottom —Why don't you get the RAAF out to assist stranded Tasmanians?

Mr SPEAKER —The member for Braddon is warned!

Mr ANDERSON (Minister for Transport and Regional Services) —I thank the honourable member for his question and acknowledge the interest that he and many others have in ensuring that people have access to services during the current quite serious disruptions. On 7 September, I was contacted directly by the CEO of Air New Zealand and by the acting chair to say that they intended—and this was the first I had heard of it—to cast Ansett adrift, to let it go, and that it might not be able to continue operating.

I immediately came down here and we had people working around the clock on contingency plans. They were worked up during the first half of last week and were well in hand when the voluntary administrator advised me at mid-afternoon on Thursday last that he would have to ground Ansett. As the administrator put it, the cupboard was bare. There was a big fat zero in the bank account; that is all that was there. He said, `To indemnify the operation for just 48 hours could cost the taxpayers of this country up to $170 million.' The Leader of the Opposition apparently knows more than Qantas, more than Singapore Airlines, more than the administrator, more than even the people who are trying to audit the books at the moment. He is a very clever fellow! He just will not produce any evidence of where the information came from. Laurie Oakes said, `Where do you get this information from?' `Oh,' said the Leader of the Opposition, `we like to protect our sources, like you do, Laurie.'

The fact is that the cupboard was bare. The payroll for wages and salaries to be paid that afternoon was not there. It could not be funded. We immediately underwrote the operations of the airline on Thursday night to maximise the number of flights that could be completed, to minimise the disruption to Ansett's customers. At the same time, the administrator applied pressure to Air New Zealand to provide $20 million to cover wages and salary payments. That payment was made yesterday and has gone a long way towards bringing staff up to date with their wages and salaries.

The government's package of measures was announced at the earliest possible opportunity immediately after the administrator issued his formal announcement grounding the airline very early on Friday morning. They have been well publicised, but let me recap. Qantas undertook to fly stranded Ansett passengers free of charge on the return leg of their journey. That offer has now been extended for a further seven days. The government established a support program for stranded passengers to cover their reasonable travel costs back home and their short-term accommodation until they could arrange travel. Qantas and Virgin offered deeply discounted fares to Ansett passengers holding tickets that they could not use. We immediately started action to compel Air New Zealand to meet its obligations in regard to the entitlements of Ansett employees.

We established a special number for Ansett employees to register immediately for the Employee Entitlements Support Scheme and to provide immediate access to job matching services through Job Network. Qantas established a register for Ansett staff and gave a commitment to former Ansett workers that they would get preferential consideration for new positions. At our first cabinet meeting following this, as has been covered by the Prime Minister, we announced what we would do to meet the needs of workers—in a way that is unparalleled in this country and which makes the rank opportunism and hypocrisy of the Leader of the Opposition stand out starkly whenever he talks about this issue.

With regard to regional issues, Qantas very quickly offered an undertaking to do what they could to provide services to those 34 regional centres around Australia that are totally dependent upon Ansett or Ansett subsidiary services. I thank them and their staff, many of whom are working very long hours at the moment, for the efforts they are making in this regard. They have responded very well.

We have also put in place measures, including a one-off grant to assist operators, to maintain services to regional centres. Assistance has already been provided for routes in the Northern Territory and South Australia. As of this morning, Sunshine Express in Queensland has been approved for the Brisbane to Thangool service and Airlink in New South Wales for a service between Dubbo and Broken Hill. Those services will start shortly. So, as we speak, 23 of those 34 centres are now being serviced and another seven are under consideration; for example, in Western Australia now they are all being covered. Some of those outstanding places do have reasonably short drives to airports where there are services operating. None of us would wish this inconvenience on people, but I thank them for their patience and understanding. I indicate that we will do all in our power to keep services going until there are new entrants in the field and replacement services to regional centres right across the nation.