For a few hours at least it appeared as if the Coalition was angling towards breaking up Qantas and Jetstar so as to give customers a better chance at getting a better deal.
Not that the Liberals and Nationals have got their hands on the levers, mind, but it was a glimpse – perhaps – into where they might head should they return to power either later this year or early next.
Or was it?
Writing an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review, Shadow Transport Minister Bridget McKenzie was giving Labor a kicking over lack of competition policy.
“At every decision point since winning government in May 2022, Transport Minister Catherine King, almost certainly with the backing of her predecessor in the portfolio area, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has gone to elaborate lengths to accommodate the wishes of one airline,” McKenzie wrote.
Who could it be?
“Whether it is protecting that airline’s take-off and landing slots advantage at Sydney Airport; blocking Qatar Airways’ application for more international flights and more recently standing in the way of Qatar’s pathway into the new Western Sydney Airport; shielding the airline’s former CEO from the scrutiny of the Senate; or colluding with the same airline to transport ‘yes’ campaigners around the country for free.”
McKenzie called on on Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers to “deal with divestiture as a measure to ensure consumers’ interests are protected, and not at the mercy of the entrenched duopoly, and the proper role of divestiture”.
Senator Bridget McKenzie.
What exactly did she mean by “deal with divestiture as a measure”?
Fellow Nat Barnaby Joyce brought up the rear, and told Seven this morning: “You’ve got to remember Qantas destroyed Bonza, and Qantas has destroyed basically Rex by their control of the marketplace.
“And we can’t just sit back and say, ‘Well, that’s all right. We’ll just have a monopoly in Australia’. No other country would put up with this. The United States would not put up with this, so why would we?”
Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described McKenzie’s idea as “a crazy economic policy”.
“Let’s say you do divest Qantas of Jetstar — Who buys it?” he said on Sky News. “If no one buys it, you’re left with less competition in the aviation market.”
The story gained legs and began moving at pace, when in came Nationals leader David Littleproud to try and calm the horses. It was a beat up, nothing to see here, move along.
And, because it was a beat up, a misunderstanding, just some slight confusion on the wires, McKenzie herself appeared on Monday afternoon to ensure that we all understood she wasn’t saying Qantas and Jetstar should be broken up, and nobody could prove that she was.
So there.
