Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mallee for the question. We have heard a lot in the last 12 hours or so from the Leader of the Opposition about the threats to Australian jobs once part 3 of the Qantas Sale Act has been repealed. If you believe the Leader of the Opposition, there would be thousands of jobs lost overseas. He refers to the board and the chairman, the cabin crew and the flight attendants, and even the head office being moved overseas. It just shows how little the Labor Party understands about aviation policy.

The reality is that the Air Navigation Act ensures that Australian international airlines have to be majority Australian owned. Our air services agreements require that the boards of international airlines have to be majority Australian—two-thirds have to be Australians. The chairman has to be an Australian, the head office has to be in Australia, the operational base must be in Australia and of course they must be majority owned in this country.

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