Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

He says, 'I put it on hold'; well, four years is a really long time to put it on hold—and then added seven flights. The history of this bilateral agreement with Qatar is one of very slow increments and increases. In fact, the last person who doubled the capacity of Qatar Airways into the Australian market was the now Prime Minister. That's the only person who has doubled the capacity of Qatar Airways into the Australian market.

From the very start, I have said that we considered a range of issues in determining what the national interest was in this case. I know that there are some businesses and some airlines which would have liked to see me make a different decision, particularly those who have significant commercial interests at stake. I have not based this decision on any one company's or any one person's commercial interest but on the national interest. I am supporting recovery and sustainable growth in our aviation sector, at the same time doing my best to ensure that when Australians travel overseas they can have confidence in how they are treated.

I know how important it is to Australians that they can access international travel and that tourists can visit our shores. It is why we have air services agreements with more than 100 countries. This week alone, we are allowing almost 500 flights into Asia and into international hubs where travellers can access the rest of the world, including Europe. I know that Australians are paying too much for their domestic tickets. More international flights from Qatar would not have helped that. Even Virgin has admitted that. It's our domestic airlines that have a duty there. Like all of us in this House, I expect all our domestic airlines to deliver better outcomes to their passengers and better outcomes to all of their staff. That is what their investment should be focused on. Our white paper, of course, along with the Treasury competition review and other reforms across the sector will ensure that the government policy is best calibrated to ensure that they do not misuse their positions and powers. But, as I said in this debate, from time to time, all governments are asked to increase access by international markets into the Australian international aviation market. From time to time, those requests are granted, and from time to time they are knocked back. That is what those opposite did, and, obviously, it's what we have done in these circumstances. It is unprecedented for the level of flights that have been asked for by Qatar to be granted by any government—that has never happened before.

The history of this bilateral agreement is a slow, incremental approach to this particular player. As I said previously, we have seen that, so concerned was the member for Riverina, when he was the minister for transport, about competition in this marketplace and so concerned was he about domestic aviation jobs, that he explicitly inserted a clause that had never been inserted before into the international air services agreement. That was about antidumping in relation to this airline. That is what the member for Riverina did, when he was the former minister for transport. We have him coming into this place, after the chaos that we saw with Qantas being paid billions of dollars without any strings attached, with workers being sacked, with no bailout to Virgin whatsoever and with air traffic controllers being given early retirement as though somehow we would never recover from COVID—this is the mess that the member for Riverina left in aviation policy. This is the mess that I'm cleaning up. I really think the member for Riverina, whilst he has made some honest comments in today's paper, should perhaps also have been a bit more honest in this debate.

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