what is wrong with incoming tourists via V australia/Jetstar Int arriving in Newcastle/Canberra as their first port of call, am i missing some thing? do all roads have to lead to Rome
Only the small matter of connecting flights!! The same reason why when they tried to move all regional flights out of YSSY the regionals all blew up. How would you like to be on a 13 hour flight across the pacific then drive from one end of Sydney to the other in peak hour just to get to your connecting flight to Wagga/Coffs/Canberra/Albury Perth etc etc. Jetstar might do it as they don't really do the connection thing but I doubt anyone else would be that keen on the idea.
RIC might create a market for Western Sydney to MEL/BNE/OOL/MCY and there could also be a market for some international guys if they wanted to fly at curfew busting times or the ultra low cost international folk but other than that I can't see to many operators heading out there.