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

As I thought the Treasurer said very well yesterday, circumstances have changed substantially over the last few years. We now have very strong regional airlines that have demonstrated that even with high levels of foreign ownership—in some instances 100 per cent foreign ownership—they are able to be competitive in this country and to provide safe and reliable services. Those services have continued through good times and bad. They have been able to respond to downturns in the economy and strong periods in a way that demonstrates the sort of flexibility that a company committed to Australia will inevitably display. There is actually only one airline that is operating in Australia with one hand tied behind its back. There is only one regional airline that has one hand tied behind its back, and that is QantasLink.

We are offering the parliament the opportunity now to enable QantasLink to compete fairly and squarely with the other regional air carriers—just as we are inviting the parliament to enable Qantas to compete with Virgin and other carriers that operate in Australia. This is an opportunity to move forward and I think it is time that the Labor Party—following the decisive vote in the House of Representatives today—moved across to the Senate and allowed this legislation to pass the parliament so that Qantas can get on with building a strong future for itself.

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