Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Well may they laugh. The tourism sector isn't laughing, our exporters aren't laughing and people who thought they were going to get extra transparency from this government aren't laughing. This is insulting to this chamber, and it's insulting to the sector. We're seeing a lack of transparency, we're seeing confidentiality clauses and we're often seeing debate in the chamber shut down. We're seeing VIP flights and passenger lists not being released as well. I don't blame Qantas for this. Some airlines have come out very disappointed in the decision. Qantas have come out and supported the decision, because less competition for them is good. I don't blame Qantas for this, but it has been alleged by some that maybe this decision was based on a very cosy relationship between the two. But I'll leave that for others.

Again, why would you make this decision? As the member for Riverina, the former minister, mentioned, air flight prices right now are 50 per cent higher than they were pre-pandemic—50 per cent higher. If flights are 50 per cent higher, why would you not want more competition? That's what Qatar Airways was going to do. They were going to bring in extra competition. I take issue with the point that the minister raised when she said that this would not lower prices. I disagree. I think that Qatar's application being accepted would have meant that prices got lower.

The other thing, too, is the tourism sector is devastated by this. International tourism numbers in this country are well below pre-pandemic levels. In many other countries, international tourism arrivals are back to pre-pandemic levels. We're over 40 per cent below where we were with tourism numbers. Again, why would you make this decision?

This has been a very controversial decision. The minister again didn't say why she'd rejected the decision. She mentioned the words 'national interest' again, but that hasn't even satisfied her colleagues the Labor premiers of Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Even the Labor premiers disagree with the minister's decision. Again, the only vague term she mentioned was 'national interest'. That hasn't satisfied the Labor premiers of Queensland, South Australia or Western Australia. It hasn't satisfied any of the stakeholders that I talk to in the tourism sector, and I was just about to go into exports as well, because, as the member for Riverina has said, there are lots of exports in the belly of a plane, and, again, they have been ripped off by this decision. (Time expired)

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