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