Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the report of the Select Committee on Commonwealth Bilateral Air Service Agreements. We all know that Senate committees do extremely important work. I'm sure everyone in this place feels proud of the work they've done through the committee process, whether it's reviewing legislation or investigating important policy issues. Given all the vital, important work that the Senate does, it is unfortunate when Senate resources are tied up in political stunts like this inquiry. At a time when there are many important issues we could be looking into, we've instead been required to participate in this circus.

This inquiry was a circus where the chair of the committee refused to provide programs to government senators in advance of hearings, making it impossible to adequately prepare. It was a circus where the chair was making public announcements about committee decisions often before the decisions had even been agreed to, a circus where all the conventions for how committees should operate were thrown into the bin, a circus where we had to endure lengthy lines of questioning from those opposite that had absolutely nothing to do with the terms of reference and, in some cases, had absolutely nothing to do with the aviation industry. At one point, there was at least half an hour of questioning about the Voice to Parliament and Yes23 decals on Qantas planes. There was even the absolutely ridiculous suggestion that there was a link between the 'yes' campaign and our bilateral air service agreement decision.

This inquiry about bilateral air service agreements has been weaponised as yet another disinformation campaign against the Voice. It's not only a complete waste of all our time; it undermines and erodes faith in democracy in this country when such ridiculous accusations are made. It's particularly frustrating when the aviation industry actually does face many challenges that deserve proper and serious consideration, and I'll touch on those shortly. It's also very clear that this committee is not an appropriate vehicle for a serious investigation of anything. The suggestion that this committee should be given even more time and resources to run a disinformation campaign about the Voice is, frankly, obscene.

As Senator White and I noted in our dissenting report, this inquiry did not reveal a single piece of information that was not already on the public record—not a single piece. It did not reveal a single piece of evidence proving that Qantas has influence over the current government. In fact, the only evidence about Qantas's influence over government decision-making pertained to the previous government and the previous minister for transport, Michael McCormack. As the committee heard, Brisbane Airport was informed back in April 2018 that Qatar Airways was going to be given additional access to these markets and then, a week later, without warning and without explanation, there was a complete backflip on that decision. From what we can tell, the only relevant event that happened in the course of that week was that Mr McCormack hired a Qantas executive as his chief of staff, after which he suddenly had a change of heart about Qatar Airways market access. Of course, all of this was already on the public record. It was reported in the Courier-Mail five years ago. We didn't need to have a Senate inquiry to find that out either; we just needed internet access.

For many years, it has well and truly been a matter of public record that the Liberals and Nationals are captured by Qantas. I was there when Ansett collapsed and the Howard government sat on its hands and let it happen, to the great benefit of Qantas. I was there when Alan Joyce became Qantas CEO and the first thing he did was begin setting up labour hire companies to undercut longstanding workplace agreements, all with the explicit support of the Liberals and Nationals. I was there when Alan Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet in 2011 because some of the workers were wearing the wrong colour of tie as a form of industrial action, and again the Liberals and Nationals supported Joyce the whole way. I was there when Alan Joyce successfully lobbied the Morrison government to let Virgin collapse during the pandemic while they gave Qantas $2.7 billion with no obligation. And I was there when Alan Joyce illegally sacked 1,700 people.

This government intervened in that case on behalf of those workers. That's what the previous government wouldn't do. Minister McCormack said illegally sacking 1,700 people was 'in the best interests of the company going forward'. Christian Porter said illegally sacking 1,700 people was 'a good model'. Senator Cash said of the illegal sacking of 1,700 people. 'Qantas are entitled to make those decisions.' Either those three ministers had been improperly influenced by Qantas or they genuinely supported Alan Joyce destroying the lives of thousands of people. Which one is it?

As we speak, the Liberals and Nationals are standing hand in hand with Qantas to try to stop us from closing Alan Joyce's labour hire loophole, the loophole he created to split the Qantas workforce across 38 different companies to divide them and tear them apart. The Liberals and Nationals could stand with aviation workers and support closing the loophole, but no. They're standing with Alan Joyce, Richard Goyder and the Qantas board. There is decades of evidence of the Liberals and Nationals standing hand in hand with Qantas and particularly with Alan Joyce as he destroyed the airline. The Liberals and Nationals never cared for a second about what happened to those workers. They're happy for Alan Joyce to ruin the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Qantas workers and their families, but putting a 'yes' sticker on a plane is where they draw the line. My God!

That brings me back to the fact that those opposite have never demonstrated they care about our aviation industry. For nine years they took absolutely no steps to act on the issues that clearly exist within the sector. Upon coming to government, Minister King quickly established the green paper and white paper process so that we can have a thoughtful and considered approach to resolving these issues. There has been wide and extensive consultation through that process. Unlike the sham inquiry pursued by this committee, the white paper process can solve important problems—problems like the systematic destruction of the aviation workforce, the lack of consumer rights under the previous government's watch, and protections against anticompetitive behaviour, cancellations and gouging. These are real problems and they deserve real solutions, not political stunts.