Mrs HULL (9:04 PM) —It is good news week, and today is good news day for me. Tonight I have much pleasure in indicating to the House that we have finally resolved the issue of Regional Express airlines and the problem of their relocation from gate 39 at terminal 2 of Sydney airport. What we have today is a great agreement and a wonderful outcome for a running issue we have all been very concerned about. We have a new Regional Express gate lounge, we have a new Regional Express lounge facility, and Regional Express will stay at gate 39 until the building improvements are completed at their new lounge at gate 47. The chairman of Regional Express, Lim Kim Hi, and the co-chairman, Lee Thian Soo, welcome this great news, because it has been an issue for their airline.

I congratulate Max Moore-Wilton, Rod Gilmour and the entire team at Sydney Airport Corporation Ltd for their cooperation with Regional Express for the benefit of rural communities. My good friend Geoff Bruest, Jim Davis and the great team at Regional Express have worked tirelessly on this issue to ensure that regional commuters are able to get access to quality facilities that will ensure that the gateway to rural and regional New South Wales and other areas can be upheld and sustained. I would again like to give my enormous personal thanks to John Anderson's office. They have been magnificent in their commitment to a successful resolution for Regional Express. Again and again, the Deputy Prime Minister; his chief of staff, Peter Langhorne; and his aviation adviser, Peter Marchi, rallied to ensure that regional commuters and Regional Express airlines would be provided with facilities that are befitting this growing and successful airline.

Mr Speaker, you will recall only too well that it was only two years ago that you and I had many conversations on the demise of Ansett and the demise of Kendall Airlines, which had been running in and out of our electorates. We had no airline operating right throughout regional areas. In fact, many of our areas would have had a very dire future had it not been for the commitment of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, to ensuring that we would access regional services. As a consequence, we had an enormous amount of trial and effort but everyone stayed true to the few airlines that were combined to ultimately get Regional Express into the skies. I must at this time pay tribute again to one of the former operators in Regional Express, Michael Jones, who had the tenacity, the integrity and I guess the belligerence to ensure that this airline got up and running and offering services.

I would like to congratulate the board of Regional Express for their commitment to ensuring that regional commuters have the quality, varied and continuing service that they provide. They have certainly proven themselves. They have now moved into profit after only two years of operation. Their profits are extending into the millions of dollars now and their passenger numbers are extending into the millions as well. I am very proud of this airline. This airline is based in Wagga Wagga. It employs about 120 people in Wagga Wagga. It makes a large contribution to the entire community and to the entire electorate.

It is with great pleasure and relief that I congratulate Sydney Airport Corporation, Regional Express and the Deputy Prime Minister's office for again showing true commitment to ensuring that Australians in rural and regional New South Wales have facilities that are second to none and to ensuring that they are guaranteed a service which they can be proud of and which can continue to grow into the future. Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to give these congratulations in the House on the evening of a very successful negotiation between this airline, Sydney Airport Corporation and the Deputy Prime Minister's office.