Clive Palmer says he won’t support Sale Act changes for Qantas

TONY Abbott won’t be impressed with Clive Palmer’s latest stand. Unlike the PM, the businessman MP says Qantas should never be sold to foreign investors.

Spoken ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott says it’s time to “unshackle” Qantas from for...

BUSINESSMAN MP Clive Palmer has dealt a crushing blow to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s hopes of ending Qantas’ foreign ownership restrictions.

The leader of the Palmer United Party — which could control the balance of power in the next Senate — says the national carriers should never be sold to foreign investors.

MORE: INSIDE CLIVE PALMER’S FAWLTY TOWERS

“Qantas is a part of Australia’s heritage as a vital service to rural Queensland and the Northern Territory,’’ Mr Palmer told Fairfax today.

“Sales like these are nothing but quick fixes and are simply the palming away of responsibility.’’

He also took to Twitter to express his strong view. See below.

"Unshackling" @QantasAirways would be a travesty #QANTAS is part of Australia's heritage, sale is a quick fix & won't solve anything #auspol

Mr Abbott said on Friday he wished to unshackle Qantas from foreign ownership rules, introduced when Labor sold the airline in the 1990s, which cap foreign ownership of the company at 49 per cent, thereby limiting its access to capital.

“Let’s not have Qantas competing with Virgin and others with one hand tied behind its back,’’ Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio on Friday.

Spoken ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott says it’s time to “unshackle” Qantas from foreign ownership rules.

Earlie this week, the airline’s CEO Alan Joyce said there is “little political or community appetite” for changing the Qantas Sale Act.

But the Federal Government can still come to national carrier’s aid, he said.

Hinting that the airline continues to seek a debt guarantee from Canberra, Mr Joyce outlined some detail during a speech to the Tourism and Transport Forum in the nation’s capital on Wednesday.

“We have encouraged the government to look for other solutions to address the uneven playing field as it stands right now,” he said of the Australian airline industry.

Negotiator ... Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce (right) walk between meetings at Parliament House in Canberra.

“We think there are appropriate solutions that would not create precedents and would not come at a cost to taxpayers.”

The Qantas Sale Act limits at 49 per cent any foreign ownership of the airline, with no offshore entity allowed more than a 25 per cent stake in the flying kangaroo.

“The Act limits our financial options, it adds cost to our business, and it influences our actions as a publicly-listed company,” Mr Joyce said.

“Over the long term, repealing it is essential to remove the distortions in our aviation system.”

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