Tribune’s note

Michael McCormack used parliamentary time on 13 May to pay tribute to the late Peter Morris, a Labor minister whose career spanned transport, aviation, resources, housing, aged care, industrial relations, and assistance to prime ministers and treasurers [TA-260513-house-ee1b85aea947:s134]. The tribute centred on Morris's role in opening the new terminal and control tower at Wagga Wagga Airport on 26 March 1986 — an event McCormack recalled under the headline "Wagga enters the jet age" — and the subsequent modernisation of the airport's facilities [TA-260513-house-ee1b85aea947:s134].

McCormack used the occasion to foreground a live policy commitment: he stated that Wagga Wagga Airport's infrastructure now likely requires further upgrade and pledged to honour a funding promise for that work when the Coalition returns to government. He framed Morris's legacy around the principle of safe, cheap, and efficient air services linking regional communities to capital cities, pointing to the 1986 upgrade cutting the Sydney flight time to 50 minutes as a tangible measure of that vision.

McCormack also noted that the former terminal was handed to the Defence Department for use by RAAF personnel, connecting the site to the defence portfolio. No comms segment was present for this date; the parliamentary contribution is the sole record in this window.

Primary records (1)

The official records this note draws on — the raw primary documents themselves, as published.

HansardCONDOLENCESSharon (The DEPUTY SPEAKER) ClaydonWednesday 13 May 2026