representatives from AirAsia X on the Gold Coast for the announcement that the airline would increase
its services from Malaysia to the Gold Coast by 50 per cent. This is a major coup for the region and for
Queensland’s tourism industry. The low-cost carrier AirAsia will increase its flights, thanks to a boom in
passenger traffic.
On 21 October, AirAsia will increase its return run from four flights to six flights each week to cater
for the increased demand from travellers. For the Gold Coast market alone, AirAsia X’s passenger traffic
grew by almost 15 per cent for the first half of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. The Gold
Coast route was AirAsia’s inaugural route to Australia, commencing in November 2007. AirAsia X was,
in fact, an airline that was attracted to Queensland using the Queensland Investment Incentives
Scheme.
The geniuses over there know all about this program, because at the last election they were
going to ransack that fund to pay for their election promises. If the LNP had won the last election,
Queensland would have seen a forfeit in our arrangements with AirAsia X. Flights would have been
cancelled and services lost to the Gold Coast. Not only that, we would now be in a position where we
would not have the capacity to attract new airlines and services to Queensland. It has now been 136
days since the last election. All we have seen from the LNP opposition is 14 press releases and not one
word of policy. While Mr Langbroek would rather spend money—
