Motions

Singapore Airlines

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. J.S. Lee:

That this council—

1. Congratulates Singapore Airlines for 40 years of successful operation in Adelaide;

2. Acknowledges Singapore Airlines as Adelaide’s longest serving international airline;

3. Recognises the significant impact Singapore Airlines has on the visitor economy, international students market, international trade and exports sector over the last 40 years;

4. Notes Singapore Airlines has played a pivotal role in South Australia’s COVID pandemic recovery and was one of the first international airlines to reintroduce flights in mid-2020 to help repatriate South Australians and to also transport South Australian exports to global markets; and

5. Commends Singapore Airlines for its long-term commitment to work in partnership with Adelaide Airport and recognises the Airline’s important contributions to the tourism, transport and aviation sectors in South Australia.

(Continued from 15 May 2024.)

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (17:09): It is unusual for me to speak on this sort of motion but I have chosen to today because I wanted to make a couple of key points, if I may. The reason it is unusual for me to speak on this is that we have a very able shadow minister who sits directly in front of me and takes carriage of these sorts of matters and does so very well of course. There are a couple of points I would like to make in my contribution today. The first one is that she is absolutely right, the focus or the main content of the motion, if you like, is that South Australia is indeed very fortunate to have an outstanding airline like Singapore Airlines servicing us so very well.

They have done so for over 40 years, which probably is not widely known. In fact, they are Adelaide's longest serving international airline, something that we desperately need in order to grow our economy. Because of that very longstanding relationship we have had with Singapore Airlines, they actually formed a pivotal part of our ability to transport freight during the COVID pandemic. They were perhaps the critical airline during that phase. There were two or three others, of course, but they were one of the very significant ones which played a great role in getting the things we needed here, and the things we needed to send overseas, and to do that for us. So I think the public of South Australia owes a great debt to Singapore Airlines for that and I certainly pass on my regards and gratitude to them.

It is a big airline. They operate to some 76 international destinations in 32 countries on five continents through their regional hub at Changi Airport in Singapore, and I think probably most of us have been there at least at some stage. It is an impressive airport. In fact, they were named a five-star airline by Skytrax and I note they were named the World's Best Airline just last year. My heartfelt congratulations to Singapore Airlines on their 40 years of successful operation in Adelaide. They are an outstanding airline and I recommend them to those who may be considering international travel.

That is the first point I would like to make. The second point, and members will be pleased to hear that I will be quite brief this afternoon—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: We love to hear you, Dennis.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: Thank you. I am sure you do, minister. The second point I would like to make is, I think, equally important and that is the absolute complete lack of Qantas international flights out of Adelaide. There is not one single flight on Qantas out of the city of Adelaide and I think that is, frankly, unacceptable. There are 29 international flights from Qantas from the city of Sydney. They fly to destinations like Singapore, Los Angeles, Nadi in Fiji, Vancouver, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Dallas Fort Worth, Auckland, Honolulu, etc., and it goes on, but not one single international flight from Adelaide on the so-called national carrier.

From Melbourne, Qantas operates 13 direct international flights, soon to be 14. They will be introducing Honolulu in the middle of next year, but they fly to London, Singapore, Los Angeles, Delhi, Auckland, Denpasar, a number of cities in New Zealand, to Dallas Fort Worth as well, Tokyo directly, Jakarta, etc., and on it goes—so 13 flights from Melbourne soon to be 14. From Brisbane, Qantas flies to 11 or 12 destinations, to cities like Singapore, Los Angeles, Auckland, Port Moresby, Christchurch, Noumea, Queenstown, Tokyo, Wellington, etc.

From Perth, the story goes on, Qantas flies to four cities directly, as I understand it: Singapore, London, Rome, Paris, and as of next year they will be flying direct to Auckland and Johannesburg from Perth. Not one single international flight from Adelaide. You might say, 'Those cities are bigger than Adelaide so that makes sense at some level.' Perth is not that much bigger by the way but, anyway, regardless, they may have a geographical advantage in some of those routes but what about Darwin? There is one direct flight from Darwin internationally at the moment and they are introducing another one in March next year. Two flights from Darwin. Darwin is a much smaller city than Adelaide so you cannot justify it on the basis of population.

Qantas operates direct international flights from overseas cities—and this is our national carrier. They operate direct international flights from London to Singapore, for example; they operate direct international flights from Auckland to JFK in New York. Adelaide is being ignored by Qantas and it has gone on for too long. It is more than 10 years, as I understand it, since Qantas had a direct international flight leaving from Adelaide. You cannot blame COVID for that, because it was well before COVID that this changed.

I say to Qantas, 'You are neglecting the people of South Australia and you should re-examine the situation and introduce international flights from Adelaide as soon as possible.'

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.