Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about a Labor government in crisis. A transport minister who spent 12 months failing to make decisions suddenly makes one in the national interest. It has been more than 125 days since she announced the 90-day infrastructure review, and we haven't seen hide nor hair of that since it was announced. It is even being criticised by the state Labor government in my home state of Victoria. Meanwhile, billions of dollars worth of projects sit waiting for a decision at risk from Labor's razor gang. The infrastructure Australia bill has seemingly disappeared from the Senate Red. Despite being brought into the Senate on 13 June, three months later we're yet to continue that debate as the Labor Party for legislation for us to debate in this chamber this week.

Tonight, I want to talk about one decision that the transport minister, Minister King, has made, which is the decision to block the proposed Qatar Airways from doubling its single daily service to Australia's major airports. Though it has left everyone in the aviation industry, major airlines and even state Labor leaders scratching their heads. The one company not scratching its head as to why is Qantas. After seven weeks of media attention and parliamentary scrutiny, the only airline that seems to have made approaches to government against the proposal is Qantas. Since the decision was made—and it was clarified by the Prime Minister only today that this was on 10 July—every other major airline, former chairs of the ACCC, several state Labor governments, Australian airports, customers, business leaders, economists and major tourism operators have all called on this Labor government to review or reverse this decision.

Australians are suffering in a cost-of-living crisis that is only being exacerbated by the Albanese Labor government. Airfares are currently 50 per cent higher than before the global pandemic just three years ago. International seat capacity is 25 per cent lower than at the same point in time. So at a time when we need to boost our capacity and competition to get Australian travellers on their way and to bring tourists back what does this government do? It rejects the offer of more flights, more seats and cheaper airfares.

Labor sit over there on the government benches today and the minister herself said:

I know that Australians are paying too much for their domestic tickets. More international flights from Qatar would not have helped that.

Labor's transport minister admits that airfares are too high, but has said that more competition won't actually drive down prices. I'm sorry, Minister, but it's economics 101. More competition does put downward pressure on prices. This minister might be out of her depth. She's definitely out of touch. Whether it's domestic or international airfares, Australians are paying more. Having a thriving international aviation market with more customer choice, more destinations and more connections to wherever Australians who love to travel want to go has to be a good thing for Australians, their decision-making, our economy and the price of airfares.

Virgin Australia's CEO says that Qatar's additional capacity could have brought down prices on key European routes by up to 40 per cent. That's thousands of dollars in some cases. Virgin is a key partner of Qatar Airways and carries passengers in the domestic market to connect with the latter's international flights.

The coalition wants to see an affordable, reliable and safe aviation industry where our domestic airlines are prosperous and continue to employ tens of thousands of Australians right across our country in well-paying, secure jobs, but what we're seeing at the moment is that things are getting worse, not better. The Qatar proposal was to increase passenger and freight capacity by a further 28 flights per week, doubling their existing capacity, or, in simple terms, having one extra flight per day into Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Former ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said, 'If there was a time to allow new entrants in, this is it.'

The Prime Minister and Minister King claim to be protecting the market, but the executives of every major airline, except Qantas, support a review of the decision. Rex Airlines deputy chairman John Sharp has said that the decision should be reversed. He said:

I think it's appropriate if they were to reverse the decision on Qatar flights, noting they had repatriated more Australians stranded overseas during the Covid pandemic than Qantas did.

Australians in need were actually served by the airline applying for one additional flight out of four capital cities a week. I want to pick up on that point because it is important.

Qatar Airways kept flying to Australia, repatriating stranded Australians from right across the world, during the pandemic when our own airlines were shut down or unable to assist. Australia is known to be the country that helps out a mate when they're in strife. In this case Qatar kept Australia's aviation border open, sometimes flying huge planes at great cost with just 20 people on board. What those passengers didn't see was the huge volume of goods—our great exports—right under their feet. WA Labor Premier Roger Cook reflected on that this week when he said:

Qatar Airways kept running during COVID, bringing home Western Australians and keeping our freight moving.

My government has been clear that we want more routes connecting Perth, and the cultural and economic benefits those flights bring.

It's not just the coalition who think this decision needs to be reversed and reviewed; it's actually Labor state premiers who are calling on this government and who are not being heard by their own Prime Minister and their own minister. He understands that in a time of crisis we could have actually needed Qatar. The Labor South Australian government also said:

We appreciate Qatar Airways' commitment to South Australia since it started flying to Adelaide in 2016, in particular during Covid when Qatar played a unique and vital role in repatriating South Australians and transporting tonnes of cargo to maintain supply chains for South Australian agriculture exporters.

That was Premier Malinauskas. The Labor Acting Premier of Queensland, Steven Miles, said: 'If it was up to us, they would have been approved.' Don't forget the former Treasurer—and the current Treasurer's mentor and former boss—Wayne Swan, when he said:

An appropriate review where things are, given all these revelations, would be good.

What has stunk about this government's decision is the cover-up. They have been unable to come clean with the real reason they made the decision. They couldn't even come clean until today on the time they made the decision. What was the involvement of the Prime Minister, the Treasurer's office, Minister Catherine King, the trade minister's office and, indeed, the foreign affairs minister's office, given the seven different reasons this government and its ministers have chosen to give the Australian public on why they would not approve Qatar Airways' application. I join Graham Turner, the CEO of Flight Centre, who said:

This is a significant blow. No other part of the tourism and aviation sector can rationalise it.

Minister Catherine King has given seven different excuses, from decarbonising the aviation sector's new fleet to the latest form of words, 'In the national interest.' You heard today in question time, when asked to articulate what the national interest included, one after another of the Labor Party ministers were unable to do that. Well, we've asked you and your colleagues to explain to the Australian people what it means, and so far we've got no answers from this government, which is committed to keep this decision shrouded in secrecy. One can only ask: for what purpose? The government can't shy away from it after today. Today, the coalition—the Liberal and National parties—with the support of the crossbench, not the Greens and not the Labor Party but individual senators from right across this country, have successfully established a select committee into the issue, and we will get the answers.

Prime Minister, I just want to remind you of what you said at the election. You said, when you make a mistake, you are going to confess, you are going to admit to it and you are going to set about correcting the mistake. You said you wouldn't blame anyone else and you'd actually accept responsibility. You said that's what leaders do. I couldn't agree more, Prime Minister. I could not agree more. And it is time for you now to fess up, to take responsibility and to make sure the department gives truthful answers to the Senate inquiry. (Time expired)