Federal Budget 2016: MH370 search funds dry up

THE FEDERAL Treasurer has erased any hope of continuing the search for MH370, cutting off $80 million in funding and axing staff at the lead agency.

THE search for MH370 appears no chance of continuing beyond July with the Australian Government providing no extra funds for the costly operation.

Instead co-ordinating agency the Australian Transport Safety Bureau faces the loss of nine staff as its budget plunges from $102 million in the current financial year to $19.4 million post-search.

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In the past two years, the government has spent $90 million on planning, co-ordinating and conducting the search over 120,000 square kilometres of seabed in the southern Indian Ocean.

With around 15,000 square kilometres left to search, hopes are fading the Boeing 777 will ever be found.

Last year, Australia, Malaysia and China agreed the search would not be extended beyond the current priority zone without new evidence of the plane’s final resting place.

The three countries will meet again when the entire search zone is scoured, which is expected to happen by July.

A MH370 aircraft wing part that washed up on Reunion Island. Picture: Twitter

But further funding seems unlikely given the lack of provision in the Federal Budget.

To date the entire operation has cost more than $180 million, with Malaysia matching Australia’s contribution and China pitching in about $20 million.

The Malaysia Airlines’ jet disappeared on March 8, 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

About 40 minutes into the journey, the plane lost contact with Air Traffic Control and disappeared from radar screens in an extraordinary turn of events.

Experts were able to plot the likely path of the Boeing 777 based on “handshakes” between the plane and satellites.

Although no trace of the aircraft has been found in search zone, debris confirmed as from MH370 washed ashore on Reunion Island and Mozambique in the last 12 months.

The Fugro Equator in the MH370 search area in the southern Indian Ocean. Picture: ATSB

ATSB Commissioner Martin Dolan said the debris’ discovery was consistent with drift modelling and suggested they were looking in the right place.
But without the black box flight recorder and cockpit voice recorder, authorities remain none the wiser about what led to the aircraft’s disappearance with 239 people on board.

Six Australians were among the passengers, and several families are now suing Malaysia Airlines for failing to ensure the safe operation of the flight.

The adult children of Rodney and Mary Burrows and Bob and Cathy Lawton are seeking compensation in the Federal Court of Australia for financial losses and nervous shock.

Melbourne’s Jennifer Chong is also taking action against the airline, for the loss of husband Li Chong Tan.

Originally published as Federal Budget 2016: MH370 search funds dry up