Nationals Leader discusses Coalition’s proposed Qantas-Jetstar breakup

the Coalition has proposed a forc breakup of quantis and jet star the shadow transport Minister McKenzie Bridget McKenzie is pushing for the federal government to be handed devestator powers in the aviation industry she says the treasurer Jim Chamas needs to address the issue we need to get prices down for the Australian traveling public and productivity up in the aviation sector and the white paper from Katherine King is silent on those issues that means treasur gim Charmers has to do the heavy lifting joining me now as Nationals leader David little proud David little proud thanks so much for your time what exactly does the Coalition want here just the power to be able to threaten a divesture or do you actually want to do it no I think everyone's taken a step uh ahead of exactly what Bridget mckenzi said there's a competition review uh even the uh the treasurer and his own Department says that there's challenges with competition there's competition concentration and that this review should look at whether there is evidence for greater powers of the a c and what they might look like uh that is a far cry from what's been uh uh touted on the front pages of of papers this is a sensible uh look at competition to ensure that we have cheaper air fares more competitive air fares and your actual bag turns up to the location that you're going to uh and I think this is a a calm methodical way of working through competition policy uh for Airlines as we did with with the in identifying the evidence that was Stark in terms of supermarkets but we haven't taken that step yet I think it's important to to Garner evidence to understand the extent and then obviously work with the A C around the tools that they need to make sure that competition is there and how do we encourage as governments uh um to incentivize more competition within the aviation sector sounds like you're walking it back a bit did this go through Shadow cabinet no and I think if you read the oped um the the statements made by Bridget McKenzie says very clearly that she wants to look at the competition we should Garner the evidence that's that's what you do that's how you formulate good policy now what the tools are that the A C are needed to ensure that until you get greater competition in the aviation sector what are those tools uh that they would require to make sure that there is uh fair prices and and good service is one of the things that this review should do and unfortunately the infrastructure Minister has done nothing on it is now an opportunity for the treasurer through this competition review uh when they actually themselves have highlighted there's a lack of competition within the aviation sector how do we get that competition in there and how do we have the regulatory guide rils to protect us until that competition gets there in what circumstances would you actually Flex this power though and sell off quantis and and jet star I mean it's been been proposed I'm saying you're saying there's a lot of options on the table but I mean there's a nuclear one in there well and that's where is it necessary I mean when you look at supermarkets the current a c chair herself has said that she would like devest you in the toolkit uh to be able to deal with supermarkets now when you undertake I mean do you want that in the it's a deterr it's not a threat it's a deterrent what you want what you want with the supermarkets is that it's a deterrent that they do the right thing and they treat people fairly and with the supermarkets case uh you got to understand we already have Dev vestage of powers in this country in fact Anthony albanesi supported it he supported it for the breakup of our energy Giants uh he was prepared to stand up to the CEOs of the big energy companies but on the supermarkets when there was evidence uh he's gone missing when there's Australians tonight that won't have dinner wouldn't we make sure there's transparency and fairness but we took a process to make sure that we understood uh all the evidence and this is the start of a process uh around the aviation sector that gives us an insight and uh and input from the A C themselves about the tools they require and I think the a tric have been eminently sensible but if we need to give them more tools to to enforce regulatory guid rils to to make sure that competition is respected where there's compet where there's competition concentration then that's good policy settings and that's what Bridget's saying you're the alternative government though uh what you say has a ripple effect did this go through Shadow cabinet no because it was an oped about a review that the government has put out and Bridget has Bridget McKenzie has has quite rightfully asked that all options be looked at for the A C to understand that the evidence be gared and then from there uh you make you'll make your policy settings and that's the whole that's the whole idea of this review is to actually when there is an identification of Market concentration that you would review undertake a review process understand the evidence uh and then uh act accordingly that's good governance and that's what Bridget McKenzie has articulated very clearly here and quite rightfully so you agree with her but it hasn't gone through Shadow cabinet because you say it's an opad so can I take that to mean that it's not quite Coalition policy yet well it's not Coalition policy yet because we haven't got the evidence the evidence was clear in the supermarkets we haven't had the reviews uh that have identified where the competition bottlenecks are with Aviation but this is the first step that we should be open-minded to work through that process in a transparent way and understand the options and be guided in many cases by what the A C believe are the tools they need that's been done with supermarkets uh that hasn't been done with Aviation and so we haven't formulated a policy because why would you formulate a final policy until you've got the evidence uh and you've heard from the experts that's good governance and that's what we're sticking to but what we're saying is we shouldn't hold back we should look at all the the options and listen to the A C about what tools they need okay let me ask you about this Royal commission report we're talking about over 6,000 submissions onto veterans and Defense Force personnel uh suicide this has been an ongoing uh tragedy to be quite Frank we know what happens with royal commissions uh both sides of government have done it you have this fan fair today uh everyone accepts the recommendations in principle um we we all sit around uh and hear the the commitment to fixing the problem and then they fade to the Never Never because it's all too hard what is your commitment today on this Scourge yeah well I appreciate firstly we when we were in government we were the ones that uh initiated this rule commission and what we need to do is sit down calmly without having seen any of their recommendations and the extent of them um it's very difficult to make uh any commitment whatsoever at at this juncture but I think there is bipartisan support in this building to work through and I understand there's over a hundred recommendations to work th through those as quickly as we possibly can in making sure that this is rectified and that those Australians that are prepared to put a uniform on for us to to lay their lives down at the alter of our democracy uh be supported uh when they leave Defense Force and during the their time in the Defense Force so I I think we we have to as a nation hold each other to account on this about the recommendations that come out and I think you have greater greater success chance of success if there's bipartisan approach to it and I think even when the opposition uh before they got into government were bipartisan in in their approach in wanting to work through this so I think that's the first step is that we try to maintain that on as many of those recommendations as hard as they are that we put the shoulder to the wheel uh but we work together and collaboratively as a parliament I think that that's what the Australian people expect particularly for something as important as this issue we are standing by to take you live to that um media conference before we do that David I just want to finally ask you on this same issue um culture is a is a problem and we're looking at time and time again report after report that shows it's so difficult to attract young Australians they just don't want to join the Defense Force at the moment and we have a a real problem on that front at at the same time um you're looking at these shocking statistics on on suicide so it's Little Wonder there's a culture issue as well well does there need to be consideration we wait to see the recommendations um and perhaps this isn't part of it that there would be you know a complete change of leadership within the ADF yeah and look I think it's important we look at every aspect of this and and it might not necessarily be that it's all about money it is as you go to the heart of culture about not just attracting but how you actually treat those men and women that are in our Defense Forces during their tenure I mean when we've lost more off the battlefield field than we have on uh there is something inherently wrong there that we actually need to address and that that goes to the heart of what I think may be some of the the tougher decisions we need to make because governments can stand up and say we're going to throw money at problems but it's actually more the cultural problems uh that are going to take more courage and I think that's why it's important that you get a commitment from ourselves as opposition that if there are those hard recommendations more so around culture that need to be addressed that we give we give the government the space to be able to deal with that and we deal with everyone fairly and openly but if there is recommendations for change particularly around that aspect then we should have the courage to lean in on it David little proud always good to see you thank you