Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

( I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I can inform him that Qantas will still be subject to the Air Navigation Act. The Air Navigation Act provides that to be a designated national carrier an airline has to be 51 per cent Australian owned; the chairperson has to be Australian; the majority of the board has to be Australian; and the principal base of operations has to be Australia.

The point I want to make in addition, though, is that by continuing to want to have Qantas shackled by part 3 of the sale act, what the Leader of the Opposition is effectively doing is giving Virgin a better deal than Qantas. I am all in favour of Virgin. I think it is a fine airline, but why should Virgin be given an advantage in running its business that Qantas does not? As long as the Leader of the Opposition persists in his opposition to what the government is proposing, he is giving Virgin a better deal than Qantas.

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