Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow minister is misrepresenting my comments. I do not blame the workers for the fact that technology has moved on, that aircraft do not require as much servicing as they previously did. I do not blame the workers for that. That is simply a statement of fact. However, it is important to note that the significant losses that Qantas is currently incurring and which it has incurred over the last year or two have been in its international division. That is where the major difficulties are for Qantas. It is simply beyond dispute that Qantas is faced with the difficulty of having to compete with airlines in countries where the wage structure is very different from what it is in Australia. That is not the fault of our workers. It is a reflection of the fact that there are lower wages paid in other parts of the world. That does not mean that I am arguing that our workers should not be well paid—of course they should be. I want not just our airlines to be prosperous; I want their workers to be prosperous as well.

But one of the real challenges that Qantas face is that its new competitors are not European airlines or American airlines, where the wage structures are perhaps closer to Australia's; their competitors are from Asia, their competitors are from the Middle East, where the wage structures are different. That is one of the many challenges that Qantas has to face if it is going to be a competitive airline in the years ahead. It has to find ways that it can make up for the fact that costs in Australia are higher, so that it can continue to be competitive in the future. That does not mean that the wage structure in Australia is going to change dramatically. We appreciate that those wages reflect the cost of living and the lifestyle of Australians, which we all enjoy, but it is an issue which Qantas has to address in being a competitive airline globally.

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