David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

It's clear we need more competition in Australia to drive down prices and improve protections for consumers, not just in aviation but right across the board, everything from groceries to banking to energy. There are some six million Australians with mortgages facing a 13th interest rate rise who are working out how they're going to pay for it. In this cost-of-living crisis, it's so important that where government can take action it does so as quickly as possible. It's why I worked constructively with the government to secure the urgent reinstatement of ACCC flight monitoring. This monitoring should never have ceased. An industry where Qantas and Virgin have 95 per cent of the market share warrants scrutiny. I would argue that that sort of market share is a failure of politics here in Australia for not ensuring that it does not happen.

Reinstating it was one of the key recommendations coming out of the Senate Select Committee on Commonwealth Bilateral Air Service Agreements chaired by Senator McKenzie. Senator McKenzie, Senator Sheldon, Senator Dean Smith and many others did really good work on that committee. I supported the establishment of that inquiry and am grateful for the opportunity to have participated in it. At the conclusion, getting outcomes was my focus. Now having ACCC monitoring in place and backdated until 1 July is a real outcome not just for people in the ACT but for all Australians who have been price gouged when it comes to flights. Here in Canberra we have the highest cancellation rate in the country. Companies like Qantas deny allegations of slot hoarding and using their monopoly power, but the evidence seems to contradict what they are saying.

The objective of the bill debated earlier in the name of Senator McKenzie and Senator Dean Smith has now been largely met or superseded. The Treasurer has now signed a direction to the ACCC to monitor prices, costs and profits relating to the supply of domestic air passenger transport services and related goods and services, and this is now on the register. Importantly, it provides for this monitoring to continue for three years, with reports provided at least once every quarter to the Treasurer. The instrument gives the ACCC the information-gathering powers it needs, and the government is also resourcing it to do the job. I am advised the ACCC will be able to look back to 1 July and will also be able to examine broader issues such as disability access, which is a very welcome development.

One of the things that the committee did uncover was the very valid concern around access to Parliament House. Access is a good thing, but we should know who is granting access to whom.

We learnt that the former minister Michael McCormack and the current minister, Catherine King, both sponsored access-all-areas passes to Parliament House for Qantas lobbyists, Qantas employees, to come in here, meet and do their thing, and they seem to have been very effective. I would argue it's in the public interest for Australians to know that the ministers who make decisions that affect companies like Qantas are themselves giving Qantas lobbyists access to this building. They're not on the lobbyist register; they're in-house lobbyists. They hit security and swipe in and they're through. They're walking the corridors, hanging out at Aussies and having meetings, and clearly they're getting things done.

I really look forward to more support in this chamber for a much harder look at lobbying in Australia to ensure that we can hand on heart say to Australians that decisions are being made in their best interests, not in the vested interests of those who walk around this building.