CORONAVIRUS — REGIONAL FLIGHTS —
GERALDTON
620. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for Transport:
I have a supplementary
question. Assistance from the minister's government has increased
Regional Express services to Esperance and Albany to upwards of a dozen
flights a week. When will the minister show the same level of advocacy and
support for increasing flight services to Geraldton, a regional city of 38 000
people?
Ms R. SAFFIOTI
replied:
As I said, this is a continually ever-changing environment.
We are working with all the airlines, and, for the first time, I think we have—under
this government in particular—great cooperation between Transport and
Tourism, having joint negotiations with airlines to see the maximum we can
deliver for all of our regional ports. We will continue to do that, because we
believe accessible and affordable regional air travel is a priority, and, for
areas like Geraldton, we will continue to work to achieve better outcomes and
do what we can in supporting regional air travel. I note, of course, that the
commonwealth has some responsibility in this area, too. We would always seek
further support from the commonwealth if it was interested in those types of
things like regional air travel. But the WA government is very much keen to
support regional destinations, local communities, and regional tourism.