Hamish Griffin drove for two days from outback Queensland to attend a three-hour meeting in Darwin today.
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That the Cloncurry man did not choose to fly to this Senate investigation into regional airlines made sense when you learn of why he would make such a journey.
He deeply distrusts the airlines and reckons regional passengers are being ripped off, he did not want to be ripped off again.
Otherwise there was just a small audience as Qantas was finally dragged before the Senate committee, the last major airline to do so.
The committee has been all over Australia trying to figure out why country air passengers are being charged so much.
They have heard from a lot of folk, either at the hearings or through submissions, that high ticket prices make life even more isolated in the bush.
They have heard from retired couples who can no longer afford to live in the communities they love because they can't afford to keep travelling to see their families, and attend to their increasing health needs.
Parents have told them how their kids come come home from boarding school as much as they would like because they can't afford it.
"Some members have paid in excess of $1150 for a one way flight for their student to get back to school, because school terms coincide with peak fares," the Northern Territory's Isolated Children's Parents' Association said in a submission to the committee.
"Over the course of a year, airfares will increase the cost of educating a remote or geographically isolated child conservatively by $4000 per year."
Employers can't get staff because of their "remoteness" and the cost of building in a couple of flights home a year into their work contracts.
Tourists shun some areas because its cheaper to head for the capital cities.
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Basically the inquiry was set up to probe how the airlines determine airfare pricing.
The NT Goverment has to subsidise with taxpayer dollars what it calls a "centre run" service via AirNorth from Darwin to Alice Springs through the townships of Katherine and Tennant Creek or else it is unviable.
It was not lost of most of the people today that this Senate committee, for all its investigating, could probably have saved themselves the air fare to Darwin today.
It is due to report back to the Senate on June 27, well after the Federal Election, likely in May.
Will anyone take notice then, does anyone take much notice of Senate committees anyway, well at least Hamish Griffin hopes so.
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