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

The proposal that the Australian government is putting before the parliament at the present time is a comprehensive response to level the playing field to enable airlines to compete fairly and squarely in this country. What the opposition was proposing at the time was part way towards that direction.

I am interested now that the opposition is suggesting that they might still be prepared to go part-way to the proposal, part-way to achieving the best possible outcome. So my suggestion and advice to the opposition is that they come the whole way, that they agree to the repeal of part 3, as we are proposing, to give the airlines the opportunity to operate on a fair and even playing field. On top of that, I suggest that they vote with the government to get rid of the carbon tax so that Australian airlines are better able to compete, that their costs are lower and therefore they can provide more opportunities for Australian workers and more services to Australian commuters.

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