Bega Valley Shire Councillors & petty bureaucrats are not the only poseurs who attempt to dine-out on the illusory promise of Merimbula Airport.
When it comes to trying to milk the airport as a prop for election campaigns, Liberal candidate Dr Fiona Kotvojs has real form.
Having failed to unseat Mike Kelly at the July, 2019 federal election, Dr Kotvojs disappeared back to her farm.
Needless to say, an array of Liberal Party shills, including the Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Minister for Infrastructure, Transport & Regional Development, The Hon Michael McCormack MP, a Liberal Senator for New South Wales, Jim Molan AO DSC, the NSW Member for Bega, The Hon Andrew Constance MP, along with the then Mayor of Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC), Cr Kristy McBain & the usual host of hangers-on, including council’s General Manager, Leanne Barnes, turned-up for the official opening of the new terminal in December, 2019.
“These upgrades have improved accessibility, safety and capacity which means Merimbula Airport will now be able to service more passengers and a wider range of passenger aircraft, supporting business and tourism to this wonderful region.”
That was simply a lie.
As council has acknowledged, the new terminal does not include passenger baggage handling & security screening infrastructure as per the original design, meaning that the airport is not able to cater to a larger range of aircraft & increased passenger volumes as claimed.
And now Dr Kotvojs is back, this time taking-on a record field of candidates for the Eden-Monaro by-election, including the newly-minted Labor candidate & former Mayor, Cr Kristy McBain.
But the lies haven’t changed
Dr Kotvojs maintains that “… funding for the runway extension & airport facilities upgrade will allow Merimbula airport to attract new routes by regional operators. The longer runway could then be used by ATR72 and Dash8 Q400 aircraft.”
Quite apart from the fact that Q400 aircraft have always been able to use the existing runway, the fact remains that for any larger aircraft to operate at the airport, council would have to install the missing baggage-handling & passenger security screening infrastructure.
Needless to say, council has made it clear that this essential infrastructure will not happen without a commitment being made to ply the Sydney-Merimbula route by at least one of the major airlines. They in-turn have consistently said that they won’t consider servicing the route until & unless that essential infrastructure is installed.
The expansion of
Merimbula Airport was foreshadowed in council’s
2013 Master Plan, with the “
justification” for the project being a prediction of 640,000 annual tourist passengers by 2016, while council’s funding application to the
NSW Government was based on a predicted annual tourist passenger volume of 570,000.
Some may also find it interesting that the Master Plan “trigger point” for the extension of the runway was an annual volume of 100-120,000 passengers; double the actual volume experienced in 2016 when, encouraged by the NSW Government, our irresponsible council pressed-ahead with the Constance “build it & they’ll come” expansion plan anyway.
The association believes that with the help & encouragement of both the state & federal Liberal Party, council has turned Merimbula Airport into a financial sinkhole.
It seems that Dr Kotvojs’ biggest election promise is to ensure that its status is maintained in that regard.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au