Albany flying with the times
The Note loves what country town Australia offers city folk – a lesson in relaxed and casual.
Take for example Albany, that charming capital of the state’s Great Southern.
An operative arrived last week at the town’s airport for a scheduled commercial flight to be greeted by the sight of a Royal Australian Air Force VIP jet parked on the tarmac out the front of the terminal building.
In true country style, the jet sat with its door open to full view of the public in the cafe, some of whom seemed at one point to have settled in with their knitting to watch what might happen next. Occasionally people, not particularly official looking people, wandered on and off the aircraft.
A pilot passing on foot doffed his hat to someone who may or may not have been his VIP-flying counterpart somewhere in the shadows at the top of the gangway.
A simple question to the local cafe staff confirmed that this was the prime minister’s plane; none of that urban evasiveness with the I’m-only-told-what-I-need-know that you’d find in the big city.
The Note suspects that the next VIP visitor might be in for a rude shock. Albany is getting bigger and losing that small-town feel. For instance, the city’s airport is about to get a security upgrade.
Last week City of Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington announced the first phase was on track for implementation by July.
“Soon, visitors to Albany will arrive and depart from a secure facility that has come of age and which prioritises passenger safety. We look forward to welcoming them into that new environment,” he said.
We suspect the first thing they’ll do the next time the PM hits town will be to park the plane around the corner.
Personally, we like the way it is now.
