Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really proud to speak on this matter of public importance moved by the member for Riverina. Too often it's easy to come into this place and paint pictures of cartoon villains and cartoon heroes, so I want to single out his nice comment about the outgoing Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce. That's not an easy thing to do at the moment.

Credit to Mr Joyce, he was born in a town called Tallaght in Dublin. My family grew up only two kilometres from that town. And when you look at the list of alumni from that place, there's lots of sporting heroes and musicians. He's the first person to lead a business, and what a business he led on the other side of the world. So full credit to him, the son of a cleaner and a factory worker. He should reflect upon his achievements, and they're not all perfect, we know that, but that is a great story from the town of Tallaght in Dublin.

Like many Australians, it's easy to come up and bash Qantas at the moment, but when we're all overseas, or even in this place, and you see that kangaroo at the end of the tail, it hits you here because you know you're part way home when you get on that aeroplane. But let's not forget about who always pays for it, which is Australian customers. Right now, there is an economics committee inquiry into competition and dynamism. One of the many things we're hearing from that inquiry is that our economy tends to see corporations become oligopolies. It happens more often than in other economies. In oligopolies, we see corporations set above-market prices. They set the price; they don't respond to it. We see more rent-seeking, and where does rent-seeking happen? It happens in places like this, and particularly down the corridor in the executive wing. We see higher barriers to entry, and we've seen that in full flight in the last few weeks—a higher barrier to entry. And when you have a higher barrier to entry, who pays? Customers pay.

There's been a lot of discussion about wonderful ads on the TV at the moment. There is one about the Voice, but there was also quite a good ad from Qantas, where you saw someone get on a business class flight to come and meet their mum. That was really quite nice. It hit a sense of nostalgia. Well, can I tell you the actual experience of Australians who fly? They're not people who can afford a business class flight to come home to see their mum. They're more often than not people who have scraped together their savings to buy an economy class fare, often at a discount price, in the middle of the aeroplane. They've gone to a wedding, a funeral or a business meeting. In seats like mine, where 70 per cent of the electorate are first- or second-generation migrants, people have to get on international flights more than most. When we talk about the cost-of-living crisis, we're not talking about people flying at the front end of the plane; we're talking about people who have scrimped and saved to go on essential and sometimes traumatic visits overseas. So, when we look to do things in this place that increase the cost of that for them, that's unacceptable. It is unacceptable.

The decision that was made to block Qatar entering the market hurts families. It hurts families in electorates like mine who do have to go home for funerals, business meetings and weddings. Seven different reasons were given, and I won't list them all, but the one that really stands out as the catch-all is 'not in the national interest'. Whose interest is it in then? Whose interest was that decision in? It certainly wasn't for consumers, who would have paid lower prices. Let's look at the numbers. International fares are now 50 per cent higher than they were pre-pandemic. You might say that there are more on offer, but there are 25 per cent fewer seats. This decision and decisions like it are hurting families.

The minister mentioned the domestic market. Yes, there are certainly problems in the domestic market, particularly with flights being delayed, cancellations and all of the inconveniences that come from that. But, when we think about the competition review that has been scheduled at the moment, guess what that review left off? It left off the aviation industry. That was a significant embarrassment that had to be overturned. Neither international fares nor domestic fares are a priority for this government. The only priority is their own interests, not the national interest.

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