Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I agree with one thing that the member for Menzies said. We talk about the Australian interest, not the Nationals interest! We saw the Nationals interest writ large during COVID, when Virgin workers were run out of town, lost their jobs and families were broken up, and they could not get any support from the government. But the coalition government did make one sharp decision, to support Rex Airlines, directly pushing Virgin workers out. We stood at those airports with those families. During that time they could not put food on the table or pay their bills, while those now sitting opposite were sitting on the blue carpet making decisions for their mates. It wasn't in Australia's interest to push a third carrier into Melbourne-Sydney routes, but it was in Australia's interest to keep thousands of Australian people employed. That's what is the Australian interest, not the Nationals interest. These people were hardworking people. We saw what happened with dnata, with split shifts and people being taken away. All this was being done on their watch, and they did nothing.

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