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

( I thank the member for Banks for his question. I appreciate that the member for Banks has lots of Qantas staff living in his electorate and he wants to give them every chance to keep their jobs and to be a continuing part of one of the world's great airlines. Qantas is one of the world's great airlines, and this government wants to see Qantas continue as one of the world's great airlines, and the best way to ensure this happens is to take the shackles away. That is why the first thing that the government is going to do for Qantas is to repeal part 3 of the Qantas Sale Act, which puts a whole lot of restrictions on Qantas which do not apply to Virgin. What this government wants to see is both big Australian airlines competing on the same playing field. The fair thing is to have both big Australian airlines competing on the same playing field. I have great faith in the staff and management of Qantas to compete. But we have got to take the shackles off. We have got to allow them to compete on the same playing field under the same conditions as their competitors, and that is what this government wants to do.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

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