‘Mates at Qantas’: Albo brutally sledged over government’s Qatar Airways decision

Senators Michaelia Cash and Jacqui Lambie have called out the government’s Qatar Airways decision, saying Anthony Albanese needs to provide answers.

Senator Michaelia Cash has slammed Anthony Albanese over the government’s decision to reject additional Qatar Airways flights, claiming the prime minister is acting in the interests of his “mates in Qantas”.

Speaking on the Today Show with Senator Jacqui Lambie on Monday, Cash called on Mr Albanese to do what’s right for the Australian public and announce a review into the controversial decision when parliament sits today.

“Mr Albanese has been unable, to date, to explain to the Australian people why he believes it’s in the national interest not to reduce airfares, why he believes it’s not in the national interest to get our farmers’ produce on planes and get it out of this country, and why it’s in the national interest to not bring more consumers and tourists into this country, to help our ailing tourism and hospitality industries,” the Deputy Opposition Senate leader told Today Show host Karl Stefanovic.

“So Mr Albanese, we all expect you today, on behalf of the Australian people, stand up and announce the review … For once, as the prime minister, act in the best interests of Australia, and not your mates in Qantas.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie agreed the government needed to provide answers into the “straight off the cuff” decision.

“Whether that needs to go to a quick inquiry, I’m not really sure. I need a lot more information on any unintended consequences,” she told Stefanovic.

“Obviously, making that decision straight off the cuff like that, I hope he’s got it right.”

Senator Lambie also expressed concerns over whether the decision to deny the additional flights would affect smaller domestic airlines in the country.

“The last thing we want going down is domestic carriers. We’ve seen this in the early 2000s, when Qantas took over and it knocked Rex [Airlines] out of the skies,” she said, adding the Tasmanian town of Burnie “went without an airline at all for 12 months”.

Senator Michaelia Cash and Senator Jacqui Lambie demand answers over Qatar Airways decision. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ News Corp Australia

In July, the federal government denied an application by Qatar Airways to add 21 weekly flights in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the 28 it already operates.

The additional flights were opposed by Qantas but supported by the industry.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said the decision was made in the national interest to ensure Qantas’ viability, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Defending the government’s decision, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told a Senate inquiry last week the extra flights would “distort the market”.

However, Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka later rubbished the claims as “nonsense”, arguing more flights would meet demand and lower airfares.

“The statistics say two-thirds of the seats that were flying in and out of Australia pre-Covid are back and one-third of those seats are not yet back,” she told RN Breakfast.

“And so if we get those seats back, airfares will be as low as they possibly could be. I guess that would be a reduction of at least a third, maybe 40 per cent reduction in airfares.”

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said the decision to reject the additional flights was made in the national interest to ensure Qantas’ viability Picture: NewsWire/Sarah Marshall

The government's decision comes as questions rage over whether Qantas should repay the $2.7 billion in taxpayer-funded payments, including $900 million from the JobKeeper program, it received during the pandemic, after the national carrier recorded a bumper $2.5 billion profit and amid revelations executives received bonuses in shares worth up to $10 million.

The government has said the national carrier is under no obligation to make the repayments, with Mr Albanese arguing the program should have been better designed in the first place.

“The (former) government when it designed the JobKeeper program should have made sure that there was some provision to ensure that taxpayers’ interests were protected,” he said on Saturday.

“It is clear, as we said at the time, that there should have been some provision made by the former government.

“I would like to see every company, when they can, (pay back JobKeeper). JobKeeper was a good thing – we supported it – but we said at the time that the problem of billions of dollars going to companies that were actually increasing their profits at the time that hasn’t been repaid.”