What this debate shows is the government’s lip service to the issues of inflation and the cost of living for the Australian people is just that—lip service. When they’ve had a test, and an opportunity to bring down living costs for Australians, they have buckled and taken the side of big businesses in this country rather than that of Australian families who just want to save some money and go home to see their families in Europe, even taking a holiday if they can afford to do that. The government does not care about those people because the modern Labor Party is reflexively on the side of big business. Their reflex action is to support the big businesses of this nation.
It’s a shame Senator Tony Sheldon had had to leave this chamber because I feel sorry for him. He has manfully taken up the charge against Qantas and its disgraceful treatment of many of its workers over the years, including during the pandemic. It treats its baggage handlers like rubbish. Alan Joyce has done that. The Senator has been trying to hold Qantas to account for this, and as soon as the government have a decision that could potentially introduce some competition and make Qantas actually compete for its customers to provide a better service, the government takes the side of Alan Joyce—the big boss who is paid tens of millions of dollars. They take his side, not the workers’ side and certainly not the Australian consumers’ side. Their risible arguments in this chamber tonight don’t deserve the description of ‘arguments’—they are simply the talking point of Qantas that have been written on a sheet for them to read out. It’s embarrassing for them to have to do it.
The idea here that was put by my esteemed colleague before is that somehow it is just us—it’s just the opposition taking this position on the Qatar Airways decision. Nothing could be further from the truth. Labor state governments are against this decision—both Queensland and South Australia have asked the government to review this decision. The Labor Party’s own national president, Mr Wayne Swann, has come out and asked for the government to review this crazy, inexplicable decision. Explain that! Explain why so many people are opposed. Now the government is resting back on the fact that a few years ago a coalition minister when presented with this issue didn’t say no to Qatar Airways—he just put a pause on it and considered it. Eventually, those fights were allowed, but the minister at the time paused to consider it. That’s very different to the decision made here. The circumstances then—pre-pandemic, pre the inflationary breakout we have seen—are very different too. Prices for overseas flights have gone up by more than 50 per cent since COVID. It’s a very different environment that the coalition faced at the time, calling for a very different response. I can’t remember, back when Mr McCormick made the decision, any opposition to his decision to hold and get more information on the Qatar Airways flight. Whereas now you have pretty much every sector of the Australian community united against this decision, including Labor’s own politicians in other jurisdictions.
I’m sure there are a lot of ministers over there very upset with this as well. There would be a lot of discussion in the cabinet tonight about this decision because they are paying a heavy price for this decision. People have found them out. Over the past year, we’ve heard from the Prime Minister that he is going to act and do something on the cost of living. They have their tired lines that they’re doing something on child care, on pharmacies—but have childcare costs gone down for people? Are you paying less for medicines? It doesn’t seem so—everything seems to be going up. When they have been tested, and could have made a decision that would have materially lowered prices for the Australian people, they failed. This government have failed and people are waking up to that now. They’re waking up to the fact they’re not actually on their side. They are much more comfortable swanning around with big businesses in this nation than dealing with the tough issues that Australian families are facing.
We have a situation where they don’t like the Qatar flights but, as we heard in question time today, the Deputy Prime Minister seems using our military aircraft as his own personal taxi service. He has racked up $3.6 million in fees in next to no time. How has this happened? He won’t explain to the Australian people. He has been completely unaccountable. All the rumours are that he’s using it to fly from Avalon to Canberra when there’s a perfectly good commercial airport just an hour down the road from where he lives—in Geelong. I have to drive nearly an hour to get to the airport—nearly 45 minutes. Many of my colleagues in the cities have to drive more. Why is the Deputy Prime Minister using it, allegedly? He won’t tell us. I think we deserve to know. It’s your money. It’s the taxpayers’ dollars. Why aren’t they telling us what the Deputy Prime Minister is doing with the aircraft you pay for? People are struggling right now and they deserve leaders in this place who at least try to share those struggles and certainly try to do something about it. This government is doing nothing about the cost-of-living crisis facing Australian families, and nothing could spell that out clearer than they decision and refusal to take Australians’ side rather than Qantas’s side on the Qatar Airways decision.
