LANE, Mr Andrew, Chief Executive Officer, Broome International Airport Committee met at 09:01 CHAIR ( Ms Scrymgour ): I declare open this hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia. I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, Yawuru country and the Yawuru people, and pay my respect to their elders past and present. I extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today. These are public proceedings being audiostreamed live via the parliament's website, and a Hansard transcript is being made. I remind witnesses that, in giving evidence to the committee, they are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee, and such action may be treated as a contempt. It is also a contempt to give false or misleading evidence. Witnesses also have a right to request to be heard in camera. If a witness objects to answering a question, they should state the ground upon which the objection is made, and the committee will determine whether it will insist on an answer, having regard to the ground which is claimed. If the committee determines to insist on an answer, a witness may request that the answer be given in camera. I now welcome Mr Andrew Lane from the Boome International Airport Group. I understand that information on parliamentary privilege and the protection of witnesses giving evidence to a committee has been provided to you. I invite you to make a short opening statement, and at the conclusion of any remarks I will invite members of the committee to ask questions. Mr Lane : Thank you to the chair and to the committee for the opportunity to appear here today. Welcome to Yawuru country and beautiful Broome. You've come on a lovely day. Broome International Airport is a primary aviation gateway to the Kimberley and a critical piece of enabling infrastructure for northern Australia. Importantly, Broome International Airport is one of the relatively few privately owned regional airports in Australia, operating without ongoing ratepayer or government operating support, which sustains many council owned regional airports throughout Australia, while delivering infrastructure and services essential to regional economies and, in many respects, national interest. Broome International Airport supports passenger travel, freight, emergency and aeromedical services, tourism, defence adjacent activities and offshore operations across one of Australia's most remote and climatically challenging regions. In this context, aviation infrastructure is not simply about connectivity; it underpins workforce access, time critical logistics, supply chain reliability and the confidence required for private investment to occur in northern Australia. Broome International Airport also plays a long-established role as an aviation and logistics hub for offshore oil and gas operations, supporting thousands of personnel movements each year through specialised airport and helicopter facilities. Beyond its direct economic contribution to the region, which is considerable, offshore oil and gas actively plays an important role in underwriting year-round aviation services to Broome. The consistent and predictable demand generated through this sector helps sustain aircraft utilisation, route viability and crew availability during wet seasons, supporting the continuation of scheduled air services that might otherwise be commercially challenging to maintain in such a remote location. These benefits extend well beyond aviation itself. Oil and gas activity provides an important source of off-season demand for the local accommodation, hospitality and service sectors, helping smooth out seasonally volatile sustained employment and maintain business viability through periods of lower tourism demand. By supporting baseline aviation capacity and service frequency, this activity also contributes to more affordable airfares for residents, improved access for visitors and more reliable year-round connectivity for Broome and the wider North-West region. Tourism is another critical pillar for the North-West economy and should be recognised as the major export industry. For Broome, aviation connectivity and seasonality directly underpins tourism growth, visitor expenditure and regional employment. Importantly, improved access, including the development of sustainable international air services, also plays a significant role in enhancing livability for local residents, reducing travel isolation and making the region more attractive to new residents, skilled workers and families considering relocation. From Broome International Airport's perspective, the success of emerging industries in north Australia will depend not only on industry policy but on whether enabling infrastructure keeps pace with ambition. We see strong growth potential in sectors aligned with this inquiry, including renewable energy, offshore and marine services, decommissioning activity, defence logistics, critical minerals and tourism, many of which rely on the same aviation workforce and logistics capabilities already operating in the region. However, northern airports and privately owned regional airports in particular operate under a unique set of conditions. These include significantly higher capital and operating costs, substantial exposure to extreme heat and weather events, and a regulatory and funding framework largely designed around either metropolitan scale or publicly owned assets. These factors can constrain the capacity of airports—especially privately owned airports—to invest ahead of demand even where the strategic, economic and community benefits are clear. Our central message to the committee is that northern airports must be recognised and supported as an economic and social enabler and not merely a transport asset. Policy and funding settings that are ownership neutral, climate aware and orientated towards long-term regional outcomes would materially improve northern Australia's capacity to support emerging industries, strengthening tourism as an export sector, improving livability and attracting and retaining a skilled workforce. Broome International Airport stands ready to play its part in the future, and we welcome the committee's focus on infrastructure as a foundation for sustainable and economic development throughout northern Australia. Thank you. CHAIR: Thank you, Mr Lane. I'll now invite members of the committee, if they're ready, to ask any questions. Senator DEAN SMITH: Thank you very much for your evidence and participation today. Who are the owners of Broome International Airport Group? Mr Lane : There are three primary families: the Sauzier family, Copperstone family—I've forgotten the last family, a minor shareholder. There are three primary owners. Senator DEAN SMITH: Have they been the private owners— Mr Lane : Since 1991, yes, when it was sold by the federal government. Senator DEAN SMITH: When we talk about aviation routes across northern Australia, there's a lot of talk about underutilisation, which often refers to how we can get additional established carriers through regional airports, not just for passenger volumes but also for freight. At the last election, the coalition took a policy to pilot some cabotage relief arrangements through Darwin airport, with the cooperation of the new Northern Territory government at the time. Of course, the coalition was unsuccessful in the election, so the pilot wasn't piloted—excuse the pun. Do you have any attitudes around how we could better liberalise some of our aviation regulations to provide more throughput? I'm not talking necessarily about Etihad or Singapore Airlines, but I am thinking about Scoot and others, where the aircraft are smaller and the frequency of routes might be easier to establish out of Singapore and Denpasar and those sorts of places. It's something that gets talked about a lot in northern Australia, but nothing transformative has yet emerged. What observations do you have? Mr Lane : A lot of it is about ensuring the right connectivity as well. Just a simple airline out of, for example, Singapore isn't necessarily the silver bullet that the region requires. We are not a South-East Asian destination by primary visitation, but we are a European visitation—specifically German-speaking Europe love the Kimberley and want to fly directly into the Kimberley. So, if you're looking at airlines flying, for example, out of Singapore, certainly in the commercial discussions that I've had with airlines, you've got to make sure that you have seamless connectivity from the point of origin. For example, if someone is getting onto a plane from Munich, they're bags get on at Munich and get off at Broome Airport through a seamless co-share-type scenario. If you were talking about Virgin Airlines, for example, you could use their co-share relationship with Singapore and have direct flight access through there in a timely manner. Senator DEAN SMITH: I'm thinking more about an airline travelling from perhaps Europe—from South-East Asia—to Broome, then onward to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney to provide more flight options and connectivity. A smaller aircraft may not require any investment upgrade in terms of the length and durability of the runway. Let's characterise this as a minor liberalisation of the arrangements so that we don't unnecessarily disrupt Qantas and Virgin but recognising, of course, that they have a market to protect as well. That's why I'm thinking more with regard to smaller-type carriers like Scoot and smaller aircraft providing those onward journey links down into the south-east corner of the continent but also perhaps links back into them. We often think about this through the lens of the passenger tourism experience, but freight is actually very, very important. Mr Lane : The general model of an airline is a mix of both leisure, tourism, business and freight. If you can get those three things working, then the airline route becomes more sustainable. I definitely think there is an opportunity, as you said, for those smaller-type aircrafts to come in and hop through Broome and then down to places like Broome and Adelaide. That would definitely work. There is a commercial model behind that, for sure. Senator DEAN SMITH: Excellent. Who are the competitors to Broome International Airport? Mr Lane : That's an interesting one. Senator DEAN SMITH: Present or emerging? Mr Lane : I don't think there is a competitor per se. There is healthy, competitive tension with Pilbara airports like Port Hedland and Karratha that are vying for the ability to have international flights come in and out of their airports. Having said that, at the same time, we work pretty closely with them, so it's not particularly competitive. If you had to look broader afield, you'd look at other South-East Asian destinations as more of a competitive thing, or destinations like Cairns, so anywhere from an Australian perspective that people try to escape winter to go north, and then what makes that an affordable and easily accessible destination would probably be Broome’s biggest competitors. Senator DEAN SMITH: On Tuesday we heard from MKNA. Mr Lane : Truscott. Senator DEAN SMITH: Yes, Truscott. Everyone will understand that and be able to visualise its location. We heard from them about their particular plans. What's the attitude of Broome International Airport to those propositions? Senator Sterle did draw to the committee's attention that they are supported by some quite significant players and operators and businesses up in the north. Mr Lane : Truscott is an active part of our ecosystem as well. A lot of our heli or fixed-wing aircraft—Nexus Airlines—fly from Broome into Truscott and then further afield to the oil rigs. So, from that perspective, it works well. From a more macro view, and I mentioned this in my opening statement, the importance of the oil and gas industry being hubbed in Perth in a hub-and-spoke type model is absolutely critical to the Broome economy. As I said, it underpins Broome, especially in the wet season—the off season—when we're not getting any tourism. There's been an economic study done by the Broome Chamber of Commerce on that, which is publicly available and which shows how important the oil and gas FIFO market is to the economy in terms of capital injection and ensuring that there's a year-round RPT—regular passenger service—of aircraft into Broome rather than seasonally adjusted. Senator DEAN SMITH: How would Truscott change that? Mr Lane : If the oil and gas flew over Broome and landed at any airport—and Truscott is not the only one vying for that particular piece of the pie—then you wouldn't get that FIFO or that resource capital injection into the town, and it would be crippling. CHAIR: Senator Whiteaker. Senator WHITEAKER: Could you give us an overview of the infrastructure you've got at the airport and the condition of the infrastructure more broadly—the runways and hangars and all of that. Mr Lane : The airport is mixed. As you know, it's a very central airport within Broome, which is a relatively unique situation compared to most airports around Australia. It has a very new check-in area and arrivals hall. The departures area is one we're working with the airlines on at the moment in upgrading. It has four bays at which RPT aircraft can arrive, a separate section through to the north which is for the heliport infrastructure—hangars that are leased out to Shell, INPEX, PHI and the like—and a separate check-in and departures hall there for the FIFO workers. Then we have a whole separate wing for what they call GA—general aviation—which are hangars leased out to small-aircraft businesses that support the Broome and North-West economy. Senator WHITEAKER: What's the volume of work that goes through the airport at any given time? Mr Lane : On the volume of flights, I think there are three flights daily from both Virgin and Qantas that come into the airport basically year round. That's seasonally adjusted, because we probably get a few more Qantas flights from the east coast which are seasonally affected. That's one of the things I'd love to discuss today as well: the ability to make a significant economic impact to the region by pushing those seasons out for those east-coast bound flights. I think one of the biggest factors affecting Broome specifically, and probably the North-West as well, is seasonal limitation. I don't think it would take much to push that out by a couple of months on either side to make the economic model of investing, especially investing in infrastructure in Broome, to be a very different economic model from a return-on-investment perspective. In terms of flow-through volume for the airport, we do about 450,000 passengers a year through the airport, with a target of reaching 500,000 within the next couple of years. Senator WHITEAKER: Perhaps we can come back to your point about extending the seasonal peak. You talked about the oil and gas industry and said that the reliability of that coming in and out of the airport underwrites some of the other really important work that happens there. After talking to locals from Broome, I know that the impact of the caps on regional airfares for residents to get back and forth from Perth has made a really big difference. What's the breakdown of those oil and gas flights that are coming in and out compared to tourism and other— Mr Lane : We don't get those figures, unfortunately. The airlines are obviously sensitive to that. I can't give you that exact figure. Senator WHITEAKER: Do you have a sense, though? Mr Lane : Seasonally adjusted, certainly during the wet season as a percentage it's significantly higher. It's probably about 50 per cent oil and gas. Then, as we come into the dry season, the tourism season, obviously you're going to have a higher percentage of tourists coming in. So it probably drops down to about 25 per cent—that being the oil and gas FIFO model. I would say that, during the wet season, at least 50 per cent of the inbound market would be that FIFO model. Senator WHITEAKER: With most of those offshore rigs being end of life, do you worry about what the impact of that will be on the airport and the broader economy? Mr Lane : When you say 'end of life', a lot of the companies that we were talking about—Shell and INPEX—have still got 30 years left on them. So end of life is a broad term— Senator WHITEAKER: Decades away. Mr Lane : During that time, if we can build up a strong leisure destination, then I think that the airport, or the region, could be supported by more leisure and corporate activities. I know there's been talk about, for example, a convention centre being built here. I think that would be a massive and significant asset to the town to, again, extend those seasons and take a more corporate market to it. You've got the port infrastructure that's just been built and that brings the cruise ships in. Again, it's about things that are not just looking at the peak season. When cruise ships do that, they push out those shoulder seasons. While we would like the oil and gas to continue for a lot longer than 30 years, I think 30 years is a good runway to build up that infrastructure. Senator WHITEAKER: Do you want to talk a little bit about what you mentioned a couple of answers ago to me about extending that seasonal timeframe? What would that look like? What would it take to do that? Mr Lane : Yes. As I said, I'm relatively new to Broome. I started in the role in November, and I've got a strong tourism background. I used to work at Tourism Australia. I've been on the board of Tourism Western Australia. I've worked in tourism all my life. I come to Broome and the North-West with a fresh set of eyes, and I can see the opportunities and the threats. If I had to pick—it's almost a silver bullet—what would really be a game changer for Broome, I could almost limit it down to three key things. The primary one is seasonality. If we can push out the seasonality to make businesses, specifically hospitality and accommodation businesses, more of a year-round product rather than incredibly seasonally affected for three or four months of the year, then the ROI model on future investment becomes a lot more sustainable. If you're trying to do that return on investment model for three or four months of the year—which just doesn't stack up, especially with the significantly more expensive cost of development up here—then I think it's a real threat to the region more broadly. As I said to you, if we can get investment in, and government support for, things like convention centres up here—and I know there's a business model being done with that. If we can use funding, and the opportunity to use state funding, to encourage and underwrite air services to push their seasons out so that more people can come to Broome in what are seen as the shoulder seasons, then I think it would have a massive impact on the region more broadly. It's not just Broome. Once people get to Broome they travel further afield. That's where I see a huge opportunity with international flights as well. You have people who will come from other destinations who aren't so restricted and don't have the mindset of coming during high season, when Broome is full, but can come in other seasons. They're also a lot more predisposed to regional dispersal, which is absolutely critical to the growth of the North-West. Senator DEAN SMITH: When we think about the origins of those particular types of travellers, are they European? Mr Lane : Yes, they're primarily European. Europe is definitely the strongest target international market for the Kimberly, for sure. That's where that connectivity piece, from the international perspective, is just so important. I'm a firm believer that a singular route out of South-East Asia is not a sustainable route for the North-West. We're not a South-East Asian destination. If you look at South-East Asia, what they want to do when they come to a country is generally a lot more of that urban shopping and those 'tick the five boxes' tourism attractions—I'm not dismissing what they want to do with that—whereas your German-speaking Europeans, for example, are a lot more predisposed to getting in a four-wheel drive and heading out to the great outback, doing a lot more of the First Nations Indigenous tourism experiences and that sort of thing. I think it's a huge opportunity. CHAIR: Senator Whiteaker. Senator WHITEAKER: You talked in your opening statement about how government should recognise tourism as a major export industry. That's a theme in a number of the submissions we've received. Could you talk to us about what that means practically. What would recognising it as such look like, and what would the impact be on the local tourism economy here? Mr Lane : I hope I'm not repeating myself with this, but I think that—international tourism is treated as an export market because it's, obviously, foreign money coming in and being spent on businesses here. How we attract that is the key part. At the moment, if you look at tourism inbound figures from Western Australia, the local CBD is seeing a significant increase in international visitation, but the regional dispersal, not so much. In fact, that's gone backwards since COVID. What we need to see is how we could make it easier to get international tourists into these regions. I've spoken to wholesalers in Europe. They're saying their customers don't necessarily want to fly into Perth to then fly all the way back up to the Kimberley, which is what they want to see. What they want to have is that direct access coming through South-East Asia and coming down. It would probably cut about two days out of their travel time to get to the destination they actually want to travel to. Senator WHITEAKER: Yes, that makes sense. CHAIR: Senator Smith. Senator DEAN SMITH: Of course, there's a cost benefit to that as well, because it's not cheap for anyone to get from Perth up into the Kimberley region. If you had to identify three initiatives that would be genuinely transformative—you've mentioned a convention centre. I understand the point of that; that's really about a venue of scale to draw large numbers. Mr Lane : The MICE market, yes. Senator DEAN SMITH: Could you identify another two that might be transformative. Mr Lane : Yes, South-East Asian—whether it be Bali or Singapore or both—direct flight services into Broome would be transformative, and the Broome port as a first port of call, I think, is absolutely primary. If we could get those cruise ships coming in here as a first port of destination, I think it would be an absolute game changer for the region. Just with the infrastructure asset being opened there, we're seeing a significant increase in the amount of cruise ship requirements, or opportunities. Obviously, it's not affecting this year, because cruise ships book 18 months out, but we're seeing that already scheduled for 2027. Having that as a first port of call is an absolute no-brainer and a game changer. If you then marry the two together, you have Broome airport as a first port of call, if you like, or an international airport, and you've got the Broome port there, and all of a sudden you're basically having Broome as your hub-and-spoke capital, if you like, for the north-west of the region. That can then facilitate a broader visitation either down to the Pilbara or up to the eastern Kimberley through Kununurra. Senator DEAN SMITH: Again, given your previous experience, why do things take so long to move forward, to progress? Mr Lane : If I can be frank, in some of the experiences I've had there has been some lack of government support. Senator DEAN SMITH: Let's think about that for a second. Are we thinking about a lack of motivation or ambition? Is it about people not applying themselves, or is it people saying, 'Yes, we'd really love to do that, but there's no money'? They're two slightly different things. With first point of entry requirements, for example, unfortunately the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and people have had to squeak very loudly on that. Mr Lane : That's the key, yes. Senator DEAN SMITH: It shouldn't be that way, but squeaking does get the— Mr Lane : Yes. Senator DEAN SMITH: So I'm really curious about that, because people always talk about the potential and the ambition, but it's about getting people to apply their energy. Mr Lane : Yes. I think you're 100 per cent right on the squeaky wheel model. I don't think it is a lack of ambition. I don't think there's a lack of demand or appetite to do it. I think people grow tired sometimes if they've tried for a long time and come up against brick walls a lot. As I said to you earlier, I've just come back from Canberra, where I was lobbying very hard to various ministers—both Catherine King and Madeleine King, and Tony Burke—to get what they call an NPPC approval for Broome International Airport. As I mentioned, we have an airline on the hook, ready to go, to come from Bali into Broome. There are three things you need to have to get that done. We need the international framework, which the airport spent 18 months doing. So there's no lack of hunger or ambition to try and get that done. It was a very lengthy process, and we got it done. The airline then needs to get what they call CASA approval for the aircraft type that they're bringing in. The last piece of the puzzle is what they call NPPC, which is the National Passenger Processing Committee approval. That is two things: Border Force staffing at the airport, and biosecurity measures in place when you're doing it. When we had Jetstar Asia in Broome airport, we were given interim measures by which we could bring those passengers into the airport and through biosecurity and through Border Force. Unfortunately, when Jetstar Asia fell over, that process was stopped by the federal government in terms of us building our federal facilities. Since we talked to this Balinese airline—the airline from Bali coming in—the federal government has opened up the ability for us to build our Border Force, which we picked up straightaway. Unfortunately, the gestation period is going to be about 12 to 18 months for us to build that. We have the airline ready to come, but at the moment the NPPC has not given approval for that airline to come in because of what we've been advised is lack of Border Force budget and the concern about biosecurity in an interim measure. I have requested the department to provide an interim step and to advise how we can mitigate the risk of any biosecurity concerns, noting and appreciating that the biosecurity risk out of Indonesia is probably higher, or perceived as higher, than Singapore. But there must be factors in place that we can do to change and address that. If we got that tick of approval today, we could have direct flights from Broome into Bali and returning by June this year—guaranteed and contracted. That is a game changer for the region. It's those first steps. If we can get that done, those first steps that we can put in place would change Broome forever. I guarantee it. With that would come Singapore flights. With that would come more seasonality. With that would come Germans and other Europeans, who would have direct access into the Kimberley and the broader North-West. It's a game changer, and it's on our doorstep, ready to change, if we can get the right approvals in place. Broome International Airport is not afraid to invest in it. To build that Border Force infrastructure permanency is going to cost about $6 million. At the moment, we're putting all that money up ourselves without any government funding. Senator DEAN SMITH: And the likelihood of success at this point? Actually, sorry. You're making an investment. What's the optimum timeframe for getting all those approvals? When would you like to have all those approvals in place? Mr Lane : Tomorrow! Senator DEAN SMITH: I was going to say 'yesterday'! Mr Lane : I'm allowing for Broome—talking the same week. Senator DEAN SMITH: Talking the same week. How would you characterise the likelihood of success in the next six months? Mr Lane : If we can get the right people to apply the right pressure to the right people in Canberra, then I think we're probably about 90 per cent there. As I said, we've got two of the three things that we need to get international airlines in. The board of the Broome International Airport, the owners of the Broome International Airport are very prepared to invest significantly. As CEO of the airport, one of the things that attracted me to the role was the unadulterated ambition of the owners of the airport to look at what is better for the region rather than what is better for their hip pocket. There is no return on investment model that stacks up about us spending $6 million of our own money to build an international airport, an international facility, that is going to give return on investment to the shareholders of the airport, but what it will do is benefit the region. The airport owners see themselves very much as the custodians of that airport and therefore have the unique ability to benefit the broader region, and the first question I get asked any time I put something to the board is: how will it benefit the region? I really want that not to be lost on the senators in this room but also on the broader politicians both federally and state—how ambitious the owners are to grow the region and not their own hip pocket. Senator DEAN SMITH: We wish you every success. I'm very good at squeaking. Mr Lane : Can you squeak? I'd appreciate it. Senator DEAN SMITH: I have a long record of successfully squeaking, so I'm happy to help the airport. Mr Lane : I'd really appreciate that. As I said, I had meetings in Canberra with both Madeleine King's and Catherine King's offices, and the response was overwhelmingly supportive of what I'm trying to achieve. Senator DEAN SMITH: And that costs them nothing. Mr Lane : Correct. I understand that. Senator DEAN SMITH: I would call that courtesy on their part. Mr Lane : I get that. Obviously, Minister Burke was—rightly so—more pragmatic, because it's his portfolio and his budget. Having said that, I can't underestimate the importance of this to the region and the significant impact that it would have to everything up here. You talked about livability earlier. At the moment, for Broome folk, or Kimberley folk, to go to Bali, they've got to fly down to Perth and then fly back over their own house to get to Bali. It costs them about four times more to go to a destination that's literally under two hours away. We could have a flight that's literally under two hours from Broome to Bali, and the cost that we're talking about is $200 each way. That's significantly cheaper. That's really important not only for Broome livability but for attracting the right workforce to the town and the broader region. When we can show those types of initiatives—show that they can go to Bali for a weekend—we are attracting the workforce to stay in the town. That's very important. Senator DEAN SMITH: That's interesting. I was imagining Bali as an alternative destination to Broome for some people. But it's about providing further amenity and choice for people living in the region. Mr Lane : It's threefold, if I can be so broad. It's for the locals, and when I say 'locals' I'm not just talking about Broome people; I'm talking about the whole of the Pilbara, the whole of the North-West. I've already spoken to Michael McConachy from Nexus Airlines. He does a Karratha, Port Hedland, Broome hop. The plane lands at 12 pm in Broome. The departure point of the airline that we're talking to from Broome to Bali is 3 pm, So you can fly to Port Hedland at 11 am, get on a plane at 3 pm and be in Bali at 6 pm that same day for a fraction of the price it would cost to fly from Port Hedland down to Perth and then back over again, probably having to overnight because you're not getting the connectivity. And then you have to do the same thing to get home again. That's one piece of the localised importance. Then you've got the millions of Europeans that come into Bali each year. If we could tap into half a per cent of those to come into the North-West, into Broome, and then go further afield, it would be massive. Senator DEAN SMITH: And that achieves your objective of broadening the season? Mr Lane : Correct—100 per cent. The airline that we're talking to is wanting an all-year-round service. This is not a seasonally adjusted service; it's all year round. The other part that it would attract is the youth market. At the moment, a lot of backpackers will go to Bali, and then, if they want an Australian experience, they will fly from Bali across to Cairns. If we could get them to come into the Kimberley, then it would do wonders for the tourism economic outlook and create a path down to Perth or across the top—it doesn't really matter—and there is hugely a sustainable workforce that comes in on their working holiday visas. So that's the other part of the equation. More broadly, there's another part, which is potentially attracting a Balinese workforce into the Kimberley as well. That's probably for another conversation down the track, but I see it as a huge opportunity as well. Senator DEAN SMITH: I'm convinced. CHAIR: Mr Lane, when you look at the region and the benefit to the region, there's an external territory not far—well, it's about 14 to 20 hours from Christmas Island to Broome. If you're talking about that South-East Asian market, with your tourism hat, how would that be? I know that, on Christmas Island, there have been residents and people there wanting to increase the tourism and the traffic to the north rather than to the south. Has there been any discussion in terms of looking at how you capture that market but also provide— Mr Lane : Connectivity? CHAIR: Yes. Residents with that— Mr Lane : It's really interesting that you've raised it. No, it hasn't been looked at formally. It's actually a conversation that I had recently about how we actually could look at that as a model—not just Christmas Island, but Cocos (Keeling) Islands as well. I see there being a real opportunity. You could envisage a South-East Asian link through a Christmas-Cocos-Broome route through that Asia Pacific. CHAIR: You'd want them to stay up this end rather than going down. Mr Lane : More importantly, to be honest with you, it's what the customer wants, right? As I said to you, I've spoken to European wholesalers who have told me that their customers don't necessarily want to fly into Perth to get on another plane to head up to Broome. What they want is to come to the destination that they want to travel to, and that's what we want to provide. I'm sure, if you had a commercial model that worked and that encompassed Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands as well, that it could be very sustainable. CHAIR: I might have a conversation. It certainly gets raised with me, and I've had conversations with relevant ministers as well about looking at—people who live on Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands were saying that it would be beneficial for them to go north. Mr Lane : Rather than all the way south, yes. CHAIR: It's not just culture but connection back up the north. Mr Lane : A person to talk to on that would probably be Michael McConachy from Nexus Airlines, because he would be the obvious choice of someone who could do that. He's already flying that, if you like, northern— CHAIR: Michael? Mr Lane : McConachy. He's the owner of Nexus Airlines, which is an intrastate local airline. He's an entrepreneur from Kununurra. Again, if you look at people who are philanthropically invested in the region—I mentioned my board, but he would be the other one that really springs to mind about people who put their own self-interest well behind the investment in the region. And that's what Michael does. He is an absolute entrepreneur and a game changer for the region. He has looked at—that's one of the reasons why he's started up. They use the old joke about how you become a millionaire is to start as a billionaire and start an airline up. He's done that himself, off his own bat, to open up the north-west of this region. I'm sure that he would look at other commercial—initially, it would need to be underpinned or underwritten by government support to make it work, but you do that for a period of time and then let it stand on its own two feet and build up the market. CHAIR: Thank you for your evidence today. I don't think you took any questions on notice, but, if you have, we ask that answers be provided within two weeks of you getting your hands on the transcript. Thank you very much for coming today and sharing your insight. Proceedings suspended from 09:44 to 10:02 .