Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) | Hansard source

I move:

That this House notes that:

(1) the Government has scrapped the monitoring of domestic airlines by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission at a time when Australian consumers are paying more for airfares but are subject to increased flight cancellations and delays;

(2) domestic airfares were 32 per cent higher in May 2023 than they were pre-pandemic in May 2019; and

(3) 1,700 flights were cancelled, and 12,000 flights arrived more than 15 minutes late in April 2023.

Taxpayers gave Australian Airlines $5.3 billion during the pandemic. This money came with the direction that the ACCC monitor the recipients of it. Airlines are heavily affected by government decision-making. Regional flights can enter Sydney airport only because regional slots were ring-fenced by previous coalition governments. When the coalition brought the cap slot system in, the slots provided a fair way for Australia's aviation needs and demands to be balanced. While the original idea was that no company owned the slots, over decades this has been perverted by sneaky practices that mean that the slots have become somewhat the property of certain airlines.

Qantas exploit the scheme by holding on to slot scheduling a flight, if only to cancel it at the last minute, ensuring one thing: no room for competition. The ACCC found this practice has resulted in inefficient use of slots. If you want cheaper fares and better services, you need competition, and Bonza can't even get in to Sydney airport. The ACCC highlighted these barriers to competition and capacity in its most recent report. Indeed, Sydney-Melbourne is the second-busiest airline route in the world. It's predominantly serviced by Qantas and Virgin. Nearly one in 10 flights on this route was cancelled in April of this year. They effectively rent space they don't use to deny others the use of it.

Qantas has enormous capacity to control the aviation market by being one of the biggest and most effective lobbyists here in Canberra. The taxpayer stumps up billions of dollars regardless of Qantas Group's massive position in the market. The Labor government denied Qatar Airways additional access rights recently. I asked the question, did Qantas lobby the government about this decision? Is there any other company in Australia that has more than a 60 per cent share of such a big market? There's no bank, telco or supermarket that controls nearly two-thirds of the sector. Would we allow Woolworths to have so much market share that it could determine the price of all groceries?

We now have an absurd situation where domestic airfare prices are 32 per cent higher in nominal terms in May 2023 compared to May 2019 while the service costs have decreased. In the same period, the cost of jet fuel fell to almost half of what it was, from $259 per barrel in June last year to $137. In April alone, 1,700 flights were cancelled, including 9.2 per cent of flights between Sydney and Melbourne, 8.7 per cent of flights between Sydney and Canberra and 5.7 per cent of flights between Sydney and Brisbane.

Taxpayers paid Qantas billions of dollars during COVID, and what did they get in return? A CEO with a seven-figure bonus and a lecture on their corporate political views regarding the Voice. Qantas's profit is expected to soar to $2.5 billion, while its ranking in world airlines has plummeted from fifth to 17th. I think it's a case of placing profit ahead of passengers. Delays, cancellations and lost baggage saw its Roy Morgan rating as the sixth most-trusted brand in the country crash to 40th place. In all this Qantas has never acknowledged taxpayers kicking in all the money they did when it was in need.

It's time for the Albanese Labor government to show that it's not beholden to Qantas and to allow competition to benefit consumers. Qantas must lift its game if it has any claim to the revered status of our national carrier.

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