Calls for review into government’s rejection of more Qatar Airways flights

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Qantas is being accused of bullying smaller airlines and trying to influence the government to block Qatar Airways from doubling its capacity into Australia.

Transcript

00:00 This is an inquiry the opposition wants to set up, a Senate inquiry.

00:05 And to make it really simple in terms of explaining parliamentary procedures, in order for such

00:09 an inquiry to be set up, the opposition is needing more support to get that over the

00:14 line.

00:15 So it's looking for that support from either the crossbench and/or the Greens.

00:19 The opposition wants this inquiry to look into the government's decision to ban those

00:24 extra Qatar flights into major capital cities, amid concerns that it actually means international

00:30 airfare prices will not be reduced.

00:33 The Greens leader Adam Bant has been very strong on this decision, the Qatar decision,

00:38 in terms of questioning why the government's done this, raising concerns.

00:43 This morning though, he says, the Greens are still yet to decide whether they'll actually

00:47 support this inquiry.

00:49 Seeing that there's a proposal from the Coalition, we'll have a look at that.

00:52 We're meeting as a party today, we'll have a discussion no doubt about that.

00:57 But what this whole issue shows is this.

01:01 Governments are too close to big corporations.

01:03 Big corporations are making record profits off the back of pushing up prices for everyday

01:09 people.

01:10 The big energy corporations, the airlines, the supermarkets are all making record profits

01:15 off the back of everyday people.

01:17 And governments aren't doing anything about it.

01:20 So given that the Greens are questioning this decision, you would expect them to back this

01:25 inquiry, but there's always politics involved and a final decision will be made today, given

01:30 that there is a vote on this this afternoon.

01:33 So business and tourism leaders, they've questioned the government's decision, but there are also

01:38 questions coming from state Labor leaders now?

01:41 Yeah, it's not just here at Parliament House where these questions are being raised.

01:44 Corrina, obviously outside as well.

01:46 And we heard earlier this week from Queensland, where the acting Premier there declared that

01:51 he would have allowed extra flights in if the decision was his.

01:54 And now we've heard from the West Australian Premier, Roger Cook, who's also questioned

01:58 why the federal government didn't allow these flights.

02:01 His thinking is the more flights, the better in terms of competition, lowering prices and

02:07 improving Australia's tourism sector.

02:10 Let me say this about Qatar Airlines.

02:12 They backed Western Australia during COVID.

02:15 They had as few as seven passengers on their planes, but they continued to fly.

02:20 We think more flights with Qatar is a great opportunity for Western Australia, and we

02:26 think they should have been backed when it came to their request for extra routes in

02:30 Australia.

02:32 So there is growing pressure on the federal government to review its decision into banning

02:36 these additional Qatar flights into Australia.

02:39 But for now, the Prime Minister and senior government ministers insist the decision was

02:43 made in the national interest, and that's the way it will stay.

02:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended