Directions in Australian general aviation: contemporary issues in planning and policy

Directions in Australian general aviation: contemporary issues in planning and policy

Australia is a vast geography with an unequal distribution of population across the continent and a concentration of wealth and infrastructure around its capital cities. The subtext of economic and political debate around the merits of federalism have done little to galvanise the case for regional and remote communities forming a powerful negotiating block in the area of public policy formation. Key to the success of mobilising the economic participation and exchange of goods and services across these disparate locales is the transport network, with aviation playing a major part in missions as important as aeromedical relief through to the banal functions of newspaper and cash delivery. Added to this is the aviation community's support to tourism operators, with charter and general aviation often the lynchpin in connecting the city to the outback when regional airline routes are deemed unprofitable or of thin return. Extant strategies to promote the growth and development of the general aviation sector in Australia have been inadequate, with the constituency identifying more impediments than motivators in the current environment. A major reason for the lack of strategic efficacy is the absence of detailed knowledge available to policymakers about the nature of stakeholder objectives, acumen and concerns. In addressing this, I have undertaken a body of research that has sought to document the planning and infrastructure issues the general aviation sector faces, along with more macro themes that demonstrate unresolved historic issues or emerging and seemingly intractable problems. The intention has been to distil the findings from my investigation into areas of clear focus to contribute to national public policy planning. During my candidacy, the industry met with a sudden and far-reaching moment of dislocation in the shape of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The circumstances materially impacted my capacity to engage in person with stakeholders across state borders. However, they also presented an excellent opportunity to determine the level of resilience and to catalogue the sector's response to stress and dysfunction relative to prior learnings and future planning imperatives. Together both phases yielded results that contribute to the body of knowledge in an under-researched sector of the aviation industry, affording the opportunity to present peer-reviewed findings and stimulate focused discussion for the benefit of a sector that has much to give in the national interest.