Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to all questions without notice asked today.

In particular I rise to take note of the answer to a question about Qantas given by Senator Johnston, the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. If ever there was an example of a government or a minister not understanding the importance of the issue of jobs and the importance of the issue of national interest, then Senator Johnston demonstrated it in his attempts to respond to the question. The issues for Qantas and the issues for the nation are extremely important. The national interest is not served by the break-up of Qantas. The national interest is not served by the maintenance functions at Qantas being sent to the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong. The economics of the break-up have not been understood before this government has moved to break up Qantas by ensuring that it does not get access to any government support. It is quite clear that the economic incompetents in the government are in complete control of the cabinet.

Jobs and safety are so important to the flying public. The jobs in Qantas are allowing ordinary Australians to put food on the table and send their kids to school, and 5,000 of them are now going to lose their job because this government refused to take a practical approach to support Qantas and took an ideological approach based on economic theory that dominates in this cabinet.

It is quite clear that the questions I asked Senator Johnston were not responded to. The question about how we can ensure that local and regional areas will have safeguards in terms of their capacity to access flights was not dealt with at all. The issue here is that both the Treasurer and the Deputy Prime Minister only a couple of years ago were of the view that we should not be breaking up Qantas and selling Qantas to overseas companies. When Mr Truss was the shadow transport minister, he said:

The Government’s decision—

that is, the former Labor government's decision—

to allow a single foreign investor to own 49 percent of Qantas would deliver effective control to a foreign investor, including possibly a competitor airline. Loss of effective Australian control could leave Australia without an airline primarily committed to our interests.

What safeguards will be put in place for the Australian flying public, particularly those in regional areas?

Today I asked the question that the Deputy Prime Minister asked a couple of years ago, and the answer was not forthcoming. There was a fudge on the answer because the reality is that the capacity to maintain services into regional Australia and the capacity to maintain services into the bush will be diminished when foreign companies take over Qantas. That will be the result of the coalition's position. Fortunately, the coalition's position is described in all the major newspaper outlets as 'a Claytons policy'. It is the policy you have when you do not have a policy. The so-called policy they have will not pass this Senate because it is not in the national interest. It is not in the interest of jobs, and it is not in the interest of communities that rely on Qantas. It is a hard-nosed, hard-hearted approach from this government, and it is based on political ideology and not on the national interest. The senators over the other side should be ashamed of themselves. They should stand up for this country. (Time expired)