Should the government have the power to break-up Qantas and Jetstar? | 7.30

Shadow transport Minister Bridget McKenzie joins me now from camberra Bridget McKenzie welcome to 7:30 great to be with you Sarah should the government have the power to force Quantas to sell jet star well I think the government should be doing something to address the appalling state of competition in our domestic Aviation sector we had the Senate inquiry last year you know dubb the quis inquiry where we made a raft of recommendations to improve competition based on not only the evidence of the aviation sector and consumers but competition experts such as Rod Sims Professor Fels Etc who all made it very clear that we need more competition not less and that divesture powers were one of the things that the government should consider in a competition review and so that was one of the recommendations we made uh nearly a year ago in order to help the government start to get downward pressure on Aviation prices so let's just get very clear because this is what you wrote on your in your opinion piece this morning here it is the treasurer will have failed another reform opportunity unless he deals with d divestiture as a measure to ensure consumers interests are protected there's no other way to read that other than you are calling for the government to have the power to break up Airlines to be clear is that what you're calling for I was calling for and am calling for and we continue to call for a more competitive Aviation sector Sarah and that means during their competition review which we had to force uh the treasurer to include the aviation sector after it' explicitly ruled it out uh to actually look at all the mechanisms available including divesture Powers because we have one of the most concentrated Aviation markets in the world 93% of our Aviation sector is controlled by two players quers and virgin and it is the Australian traveler that's paying the price for that so so to be clear you're you're sticking to that because they seem to be some uncertainty in the day whether or not this is indeed Nationals policy so is it Nationals policy that the government should have that power to be able to break up quantis to separate jet star from Quantus or the international from the domestic operations Sarah I can't be clearer on what the Coalition policy is as the shadow Minister for infrastructure and transport stated in the Senate inquiry uh handed down last October where we called on the Australian government to conduct competition review into domestic Aviation and to explicitly consider devestator Powers as part of that broader competition review let me let me just let me just jump let me just jump in and ask you about your about David little prow today I just want to get absolutely clear about this you you've you've you've made it clear that that is indeed the policy he said we have the evidence on concentration Market concentration for supermarkets but he said not for Aviation but exactly as you're saying that's 100 137 pages in the Parliamentary report 54 pages in the uh uh study done by the treasury that came out recently isn't that enough evidence for the Nationals to form a very clear policy towards Aviation Sarah we've been very clear all the way along not just the National Party the Coalition that we want lower aairs and we want a more reliable sector in the last 2 and a half years that the labor party's been in power we've seen economy air fairs increase by 50% in the middle of a cost of living crisis and do we hear the transport Minister on 730 answering your questions about what she's going to do about it no do we hear actually the treasurer Jim Charmers putting forward a plan to increase competition and get airfare prices down for the Australian traveling pu public no we don't traveling by air is no longer a luxury good right when I grew up only the rich people got to get on airplanes but now everybody flies business needs it so if you're interested in prices and productivity you need to address this issue they've had 2 and a half years an aviation white paper that is silent on competition and now the treasurer as you've already quoted his own paper calls out the dominant position that quis is in the negative impact that has on air prices that Australians are having to pay and I want to know what they're doing about it all right so let's let's get very clear as as we as we talk this evening the Nationals policy is to consider a breakup of quantis is that right Sarah I think uh everyone watching this program because I get swamped in my office and at barbecues it is about why the government isn't acting on getting downward pressure on air fars and Professor F you know Professor Fels Rod Sims the current a c chair Aviation expert everyone other than quantis and other than the Prime Minister and the transport Minister want to get air fars down and More in competition into the market I think I think it's think it's important just I think it's important just to point out just to be fair to quantis that the A C found no evidence of anti-competitive behavior by quantis well I'm actually going to the treasury's own paper which I'm thankful that you have read which actually says when quis um goes into a market where maybe it's virgin or previously Rex uh they drop their prices when quis is flying into a market where jet Stars the other competitor quis increases their price so there is absolutely behavior that is evidenced right across this wide Brown land about the egregious behavior of quis and that we do need tough measures to deal with it so why did D so why did sorry forgive me forgive me uh forgive me David little crowd said today that we don't have enough evidence to formulate that policy in relation to Aviation you're just laying out the evidence that exist both from the Senate inquiry and from the treasury's own report why is he still saying you don't have enough evidence what I'm laying out Sarah is what the labor party has enacted on the slot review you cannot have a successful and sustainable airline in this country if you can't get into Sydney with 40 million pass passenger movements a year the government has failed to act on that quanus has 107 I think um slot accesses in that peak time between 6:00 and 11:00 a.m. in the morning Rex when it was trying to compete on that Capital City Market had seven seven slot axes government doesn't act on that a c monitoring competition reform cabotage where we actually get some of those limited cabotage where you could get an International Airline that might be flying into Perth Airport for instance to then do another Capital City route and provide some competition between Perth and Sydney or Perth and Melbourne Perth and Adelaide um to butt up against Quantas well let me let me just ask let me just ask you this before we run out of time I think you you you've made you've made a very strong case you've made a very strong case but I want to come back to the issue of what's Happening inside the Nationals is there a gap between what you want to see happen in aviation and that of Nationals leader David little proud absolutely not the Coalition wants to see lower prices and a more reliable Aviation sector and if the treasurer has got a plan to make that happen Jim you've got my number give me a call Bridget McKenzie thank you very much indeed for joining us thank you