Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What the government is proposing is for the same set of rules and regulations to govern Qantas as govern Virgin. Virgin has gone from zero to almost 10,000 Australian employees. Virgin is carrying millions of Australians a week. That is what it is doing. Virgin is servicing planes in Australia. It is creating jobs in Australia. Virgin is growing and Qantas is shrinking and that is why we want Qantas to be under the same rules that Virgin is under. That is what we want. Isn't that the best thing we can do for Qantas?

What the Leader of the Opposition wants us to do, effectively, is to bail out a private company. That is what he wants. He wants us to get out the chequebook and write a cheque, just as members opposite have done so often. Let me remind the Leader of the Opposition what the former chief of staff to the former Prime Minister said:

It’s puzzling when a party claiming to be progressive wants to compound out-dated interventionism with a market distorting loan guarantee specific to Qantas. This is a step down the Argentine road.

That is what the Leader of the Opposition wants us to do.

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