New England Volunteer Air Transport

Mr RICHARD TORBAY (Northern Tablelands—Speaker) [7.43 p.m.]: One of the most rewarding aspects of my work as a member of Parliament is meeting the many volunteers who give their time and energy to help others, often at considerable personal cost. Their level of commitment is astonishing and none more so than the New England Volunteer Air Transport [NEVAT], which provides free air travel for local people needing to access specialist medical services. The service is based at Ashford, a country town in the Northern Tablelands with a population of 570 people and around 1,300 in the surrounding district. Last June I was at the Ashford airport, with many members of the community, to welcome the arrival of Angel Bruce, a rebuilt and reconditioned four-seater Beechcraft Sundowner. It was named after Bruce Newlands, one of the first members of the volunteer organisation, who had recently died.

The proprietor of the Ashford Bakery, David Roach, and the proprietor of the local Commercial Hotel, Wally Dedula, purchased the plane for $60,000 to provide this unique air transport service. Community members had by that time already raised $20,000 to cover the first year of operation. Four local pilots, including Mr Roach, volunteered to fly the missions. Bookings were taken at the bakery and members of Masonic lodges in Armidale, Tamworth and Toowoomba volunteered to provide free transport from airports to meet the appointments. In the last 12 months NEVAT has flown 58 missions, mostly with three patients on board. It has 436 members, who have willingly accepted a rise in membership fees from an initial $10 to $50 a year.

People who use the service are not required to become members but most of them do. One grateful passenger now makes jams and pickles and knits items to fundraise for NEVAT. Other passengers make donations after their trips but the financial mainstay of the operation, apart from the volunteer pilots and ground staff, are street stalls, various small local events and meat raffles at the pub, which raise $200 a week. I am told by the irrepressible David Roach that, as far as he knows, there is no other such service in Australia. It arose as a solution to the difficulties experienced by people in areas such as Ashford, Glen Innes, Inverell, Texas and Warialda, who now use NEVAT to attend specialist appointments in larger regional centres. As Mr Roach graphically outlined, an Ashford person who had to travel on the bus to Tamworth would leave home at 5.00 a.m. and arrive back at 10.30 p.m. just for a half hour medical appointment.

Most NEVAT passengers are over 55 years and seek treatment for a range of chronic medical conditions. The service complements other services but, as its backers have found, it fits into no category within existing government health or community services guidelines. Much has been made of a hub-and-spoke model to provide specialist health services in regional areas. This necessitates travel by either the specialists or their patients, but it is usually the latter. The lack of public transport in most country regions makes it very difficult for many people in remote and isolated areas to access the services they need. There are a number of government-funded transport services but the criteria are strict and the budgets and flexibility are limited. NEVAT is, as it says, a community service to help people with health problems to reduce stress and overcome the difficulty of travelling long distances to access the specialist services they require.

This month NEVAT has embarked on an ambitious 12-month program to train four local pilots. They include three farmers and a postman, all of whom are willing to become volunteers when their training is completed. One of the current pilots has left to join the Royal Australian Air Force and, with the demand for flights increasing, NEVAT is relying on a sufficient pool of volunteer pilots to meet current and future community needs. It is aiming at 150 flights a year. The cost of training the four pilots is in the vicinity of $20,000. A local instructor provides training at $50 per hour flying time. Each pilot requires one hour practical training per week and approximately 50 flying hours to complete the training. The instructor is donating his time for all ground training. Trainee pilots are only required to cover the cost of the aircraft fuel for their practical training.

New England Volunteer Air Transport estimates its running costs at $30,000 to $40,000 annually. This includes fuel and aircraft maintenance and is met through a sterling effort of community fundraising and some donations. Today I ask the Government to allocate a one-off grant of $15,000 towards the New England Volunteer Air Transport pilot training to assist this outstanding community endeavour and ensure that it can continue into the future.