New 'VIP passenger' channel for Sydney, Melbourne airports?

Have used a similar service to this at LAX many times.  It makes a big difference there, but I'm not really sure that there would be an advantage at Sydney.

Given the speed of the automated immigration gates, residents with ePassports really don't need arrivals assistance anyway. I see it as a good money spinner for foreign tourists / businesspeople only.

A lot of vitriol on the SMH website too, a la "Stop the rich privilege!" etc. As long as the program is cashflow positive to the gov't, I don't see a problem.

I'm curious why it's announced as part of the budget, rather thanjust being rolled out in policy form by the Dept of Immigration?

Would not the airports, being privately owned, foot the construction bill if they want to impliment VIP channels (as an adjunct service offering for inbound airlines using their facilities)? Or is the DoI paying for these new facilities inside the terminals?

This is such a bad idea it makes my blood boil.

Why? Because they are proposing a solution to a problem that should never exist in the first place. There is no excuse for long waiting and slow processing. Why? Because people arriving into Australia should receive the best welcome possible. It is called ‘first impressions’ and ‘hospitality’ and it is crucial to creating an experience so people:

a) have a great time in Australia

b) return back soon and stimulate the economy with their tourist dollars

There are countries that understand this and countries that don’t.

For example, Bangkok airport is shocking with long queues and bureaucratic overkill. It makes me less likely to travel to Bangkok and whatever money the government might save on administration they miss out on in my tourism spend.

In contrast, I recently arrived into Montevideo in Uruguay and cleared the airport in under 10 minutes.

Unfortunately Australian airports are far below world class. Last year I arrived into Melbourne and the queue for foreigner passport holders stretched beyond the Duty Free shopping (probably 200-300m long queue). That is unacceptable.

My point is that the government emphasis should be on providing a world class experience which is so good that any priority options are simply not needed.

One comment said this proposal is ok ‘‘As long as the program is cashflow positive to the gov't’. Accountants can pretty much justify anything on paper. You can say ‘this costs $1 but we get $2 back in revenue.’ But that doesn’t take into account the negative impact a poor airport experience has on tourism because this would be too difficult to quantify. But anecdotally, think of people that say they never want to fly through LAX because of poor experiences or people who deliberately fly through Singapore because of the excellent experience.  

This is a proposal by a desperate and small minded minister who lacks vision and doesn’t get that the current arrivals experience just isn’t good enough for everyone.

And cue the fat cat bashing in 3, 2, 1… I’m not for this, but not for the reason of not wanting a VIP terminal/infrastructure. I’m not fussed about that.

Firstly, it seems to be a very costly and complex solution that IMHO doesn’t really exist. How badly would customer be after the convenience of 10 minutes fewer waiting in lines, (I get that they can be longer wait times but I’m assuming that’s the standard,) that they’d be willing to pay the premium the airport would have to charge?

Secondly, what the hell is going on with our pollies, (that’s right I’m not calling them leaders,) that they look at a problem like delays at airports and completely ignore the simple option of rostering on a few more staff and setting in place a project to install more gates. I agree those two options aren’t an overnight fix, but I can’t shake the feeling they’re over thinking this.

While Sdney Airport certainly isn't a Changi, it does seem to be getting better. The last couple of times I've come through I've made it through in under 20 minutes.

I don't get the outrage over this proposal. Higher tier FF's already get express passes; this proposal opens up the oppoprtunity to anyone who is happy to pay to get through quicker, so actually more people will have the opportunity.