UPDATED Thursday 9.30AM: The Science Party of Australia wants to see Horsham Regional Airport offer domestic passenger services.
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The party's candidate for Mallee Leigh Firman said allowing carriers such as Qantas, Regional Express and Jetstar to operate services out of the Dooen airstrip should be a long-term aim.
"Whoever is in power after the election may not agree to an airport," he said.
"But we've got to at least put the groundwork in - even if it's only doing submissions and getting costings and all of that. If we get the ball rolling hopefully we can make a difference."
"People in this area need to be able to get Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. I think it would be quite feasible and it just puts everyone in touch a bit better."
Mr Firman said it would be necessary to upgrade the road servicing the airport, Geodetic Road, alongside a boost to the airstrip's capabilities.
"Right now it's a bit dangerous. It needs to be better integrated with the other roads nearby, so people can get in and out of there easier," he said.
"There is no reason why we couldn't also operate a bus system once this happens."
John Martin, director of infrastructure at Horsham Rural City Council, cautiously welcomed the party's proposal.
"It is something we're keen to see happen," he said.
"There have been a number of attempts to develop such a service and it is something that is missing from the region, so that is something we'd be happy to assist anybody in pursuing."
Mr Martin said more studies would be needed to update the costings from the most recent business plan the council developed in 2010.
"There are in this day and age security requirements for passenger services, so that would require a secure perimeter fence and a passenger terminal facility built there to replace the fairly basic one.
"Probably the other main thing would be the runways: the 2010 plan foreshadows the need to extend both of our runways, so that they can handle larger planes, and there would be quite some cost in doing that."
Science Party Leader Dr Andrea Leong said if elected, the party would seek to have the projects and proposals it lobbied for financed by redirecting funding from areas in which it believed taxpayer money was being spent unwisely.
"We would like to see the 50 per cent Capital Gains Tax discount cut, which incentivises people to invest in housing - there is $10 billion there. There are also billions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, which we think is inappropriate," she said.
The date of the 2019 Federal Election is yet to be announced.