General Aviation News

Australia to Set Course for Aviation with New White Paper

Australia to Set Course for Aviation with New White Paper

The Australian government has launched the development of an Aviation White Paper, designed to set policy directions for the industry through 2050 to support growth and innovation. The Aviation White Paper will include actions designed to support and regenerate the country’s general aviation sector, which has been on a steady decline for decades.

The government says the White Paper will set overarching principles and directions for aviation over the short, medium and long term, including concrete actions over the next five years to help position the sector to achieve these directions.

The Aviation White Paper, which will be the country’s first since 2009, is needed more than ever following the uncertainty of the pandemic and a lack of planning in the sector under the previous government, says Hon Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. The document will provide “a new chance to chart the opportunities for the future,” according to the government.

The terms of reference outline several issues for the White Paper to examine, including how to support and regenerate the GA sector and how to maximize the sector’s contribution to net zero carbon emissions through sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and emerging technologies.

It will include economic reforms required to improve productivity across the sector, and better mechanisms for consultation on and management of issues like aircraft noise, airport development planning and changing security requirements. It will also look at changing aviation technologies and how to position policies, regulations and systems to encourage uptake and manufacturing of new, more efficient transport technologies.

The White Paper is open to submissions from industry and the public through to March 10. A Green Paper, which will outline key challenges and opportunities for the aviation sector, is expected to be released in mid-2023. Further public consultation will take place on the Green Paper, leading to the release of an authoritative and in-depth White Paper in the first half of 2024.

The government committed A$7 million of funding to deliver the White Paper in the 2022-23 budget.

“A safe, efficient, sustainable and competitive aviation sector is critical to the economy and the standard of living of all Australians,” says King.

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INDUSTRY REPORTS