Bounty Refused The Australian Government has refused to
give any form of protection to the manufacture of singleengined
aircraft in Australia. The Minister for Trade and
Industry, Mr J. McEwen, announced this in Canberra when
releasing a Tariff Board report on single-engined aircraft.
"In the board's opinion there is little prospect, for the
present, of profitable production of light aircraft in Australia
without a level of assistance out of all proportion to the
probable gains to the economy," Mr McEwen said.
Mr Ernest Marty, sales manager of Transavia, makers of
the PL 12 Airtruk agricultural aircraft, said it was a tragic
decision. "It will certainly discourage anyone from trying to
build aircraft in this country," he added. His company would
press for another Tariff Board hearing, as the situation had
changed since the last inquiry.
Victa's managing director, Mr C. R. Fieldhouse, would not
comment. Victa Ltd, with Transavia, had requested a subsidy
for the production of light aircraft. Since the inquiry, Victa
has closed its $A3 million aviation plant. At the inquiry the
company sought a "bounty" (i.e., subsidy) of a maximum of
60 per cent on the average factory cost of Australian designed
and manufactured aircraft. It asked that the bounty should last
for five years. Transavia asked for a sliding bounty which
would cover 32.9 per cent of the total cost of the first ten aircraft,
15.4 per cent of the next 25, and 5.3 per cent of the next 50.
The organisations opposing protection were Rex Aviation
Ltd, Ansett General Aviation Pty Ltd, Piper, Hawker De Havilland
Australia Pty Ltd, the Association of Commercial Flying
Organisations of Australia, Hazelton Air Services Pty Ltd and
the Australian Tariff Council. Among their submissions were
that Australia was not yet a big enough market to support a
local aircraft industry.