[Peetwo]

Chinese takeover of Australian aviation - 

Via 2GB:

---

‘It’s happening everywhere’: China buying Australian flying schools

8 HOURS AGO
ALAN JONES
 

China is buying up Australian pilot training schools.

Virgin Australia is currently in talks with a Chinese conglomerate to open a flight school in Tamworth for both Chinese and Australian pilots.

Businessman and aviation expert, Dick Smith tells Alan Jones he’s seeing continued Chinese ownership across the entire Australian aviation industry.

Mr Smith claims “it’s happening everywhere” with a Bankstown flying school the latest to be snapped up by a Chinese company.

The entrepreneur says there is already a shortage of airline pilots across Australia because “our training industry is nearly completely destroyed” and fears Australian pilots will be shut out of foreign-owned flight schools.

Mr Smith says many of these Chinese owned flying schools are failing to train Australian pilots, claiming “they’ll say an Australian pilot can comply but if you look it’s just about all Chinese pilots.”

Click PLAY below to listen to the full interview

https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-bre...tyle=cover

CEO of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Ben Morgan tells Ben Fordham local businesses simply can’t compete with Chinese overinvestment.


“Australian aviation has now become uneconomic and the future for flight training in this country is one that will be controlled by Chinese national businesses.



“Australia is for sale. Throw the ‘For Sale’ sign up and invite your Chinese interested parties.”


Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-s...tyle=cover

Politics & Aviation: Dick to take on the DPM DUMMY - 


Via AOPA Oz: https://aopa.com.au/dick-smith-targets-d...-_Wjfsmdio

DICK SMITH TARGETS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER’S RIVERINA SEAT

March 25, 2019 By Benjamin Morgan



The Australian: Joe Kelly, Political Reporter – Tuesday 26th March 2019

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack will be forced to fight to retain his seat at the upcoming May election as businessmen Dick Smith vows to bankroll an independent challenger and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party confirms a plan to dislodge the Nationals leader from his NSW electorate of Riverina.


As the Nationals reel from the loss of the NSW seats of Barwon and Murray to the Shooters at the weekend’s state election, the party was also facing defeat by Labor in the seat of Lismore, intensifying concerns that Mr McCormack will face an uphill battle to defend the party’s 16 lower house seats at the federal election in May.

The plight of the minor Coalition partner in NSW is set to worsen at a federal level with Nationals sources confirming the party will not run a separate Senate ticket from the Liberals at the May election.

NSW Nationals Senate candidate Perin Davey will run third on a joint ticket, with a deal expected to be signed off within a fortnight.

Mr Smith, a former chairman of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, told The Australian yesterday that Mr McCormack — the Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister — had failed to take steps to prevent growing Chinese control over Australian aviation schools.

“I was contacted by some grassroots country people from his seat because they agree that he’s probably the worst National Party leader they’ve ever had,” Mr Smith told The Australian.

“What we are looking at is seeing if we can get an establishment farming family in the electorate to nominate one of their family members to stand. I would certainly help this person … And I would think there’s a fair chance they would get in.”

Mr Smith is spending $12,000 a month on billboards in Mr McCormack’s electorate as part of a push to overhaul the Civil Aviation Act to ensure the maintenance of “an efficient and sustainable Australian aviation industry”.

Mr McCormack told The Australian that working for his constituents was a “great privilege”, saying he had delivered a rural medical school, funding for local roads, tax cuts for small businesses and almost $7 billion in support for local farming families.

“I am pleased to have worked with the general aviation sector — including through a forum at Wagga Wagga — to introduce a bill … to amend the Civil Aviation Act to take cost into account while prioritising safety for the travelling public,” he said. “I am also pleased this bill has bipartisan support and is before the parliament.”

Mr Smith has previously accused Mr McCormack of killing off a plan to rewrite laws to require CASA to balance the “highest level of safety in air navigation” with the need for “an efficient and sustainable Australian aviation industry”.

The Australian has also confirmed the SFF state executive is meeting today and will discuss preliminary plans to run candidates in the seat of Calare — held by Nationals MP Andrew Gee — as well as Mr McCormack’s electorate, with expectations that other candidates will run in Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania.

Plus: https://www.facebook.com/AOPAaustralia/p...=3&theater 

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Australia

AOPA AUSTRALIA’S BENJAMIN MORGAN LIVE WITH PETA CREDLIN, SKY NEWS TONIGHT 6PM

AOPA Australia Executive Director Benjamin Morgan will take part in a live television interview with political commentator Peta Credlin on Sky News, this evening at 6pm, to discuss the decline of Australia’s aviation industry and inaction by the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack MP.

BRAVO BEN MORGAN - BRAVO INDEED! 

Collapse of Australia’s general aviation industry on shoulders of Michael McCormack
26/03/2019|8min

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6018021218001

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia’s Ben Morgan says there’s a ‘troubling trend’ of Australia’s aviation infrastructure being sold off to Chinese companies.

Mr Morgan says the collapse and failure of the general aviation industry is on the shoulders of Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who has been ‘captured by the bureaucracy’ and is a ‘champion for red tape’.

Mr Morgan says the industry is also experiencing the long-term impacts of airport privatisation, with access charges increasing to as much as 4000 per cent in the past 20 years.