Anthony Albanese took our advice, Qantas tells Senate committee

Qantas has revealed that the ­Albanese government followed its advice to stop the competition watchdog’s regular airline monitoring reports.

Qantas chairman Richard Goyder, left, and new chief executive Vanessa Hudson appear before the Senate inquiry on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Qantas has revealed that the ­Albanese government followed its advice to stop the competition watchdog’s regular airline monitoring reports, as new airline chief executive Vanessa Hudson admitted executives did consider paying back more than $1bn in Jobkeeper.

It came as Virgin boss Jane Hrdlicka sensationally claimed the government’s “vibe” regarding Qatar Airways’s bid for more flights in Australia changed after previous Qantas chief Alan Joyce made his unhappiness over the foreign airline’s push clear to Labor.

A Senate committee set up in response to Labor’s blocking of Qatar’s ambition also heard from Sydney Airport that Qantas was an “aggressive” player in Can­berra, and lobbied government vigorously on issues that threatened the airline’s market share.

In another example of Qantas’s influence over the government, the committee heard the airline was opposed to an extension of funding for the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to continue its quarterly monitoring reports on the domestic airline industry.

Qantas general counsel Andrew Finch confirmed those views were relayed to the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, before the government made the decision not to maintain the monitoring reports.

Virgin Australia was also asked for its position, and informed the department they saw “ongoing utility” in the reports.

It’s understood Bonza and Rex were also in favour.

In the absence of government support, the ACCC delivered its final report in June.

Ms Hudson told the committee Qantas opposed the extension because of the fact the ACCC was already “continuously” monitoring airlines. “We feel the ACCC has sufficient monitoring and oversight of the industry,” she said. “We don’t think it’s necessary in the current context, given the ACCC’s constant monitoring of the industry.”

The ACCC launched legal action against Qantas in August over allegations the airline sold tickets on already cancelled flights for several months in 2022.

The day-long hearings in Canberra centred largely on both the Qatar decision and Mr Joyce’s dealings with Labor.

Giving testimony on Wednesday, Ms Hrdlicka told the committee she met with Transport Minister Catherine King in January, and was informed a mandate for bilateral negotiations with Qatar was about to be issued. “The minister also said that my Qantas counterpart, then Alan Joyce, had heard that her department was recommending negotiations with Qatar should commence, and he was not happy and had asked to speak with her,” Ms Hrdlicka said.

Before the next meeting in May, Ms Hrdlicka said she had started to hear “noise” that the Qatar bid had stalled and negoti­ations had not commenced.

When she met with Ms King again, she was told there was “some challenge regarding the Doha Airport incident of 2020” involving the sexual assault of Australian women. “This was a very different conversation and I was now concerned the air rights might not be granted, and as the weeks passed that concern grew,” Ms Hrdlicka said.

“Our initial assumption was that this was an easy decision to make. It was only in April, post lots of celebrations in Mascot (Qantas HQ) that we learned the tide had shifted.”

Ms Hrdlicka was referring to a gala dinner held by Qantas in late March, attended by Anthony Albanese as well as former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Qatar Airways executives told the committee bilateral negoti­ations never began, and they were “surprised and shocked” to learn through the media in July that their request for another 28 flights a week had been refused.

Ms King’s office would not comment on her meetings with Ms Hrdlicka.

Despite the turn of events, Qantas chair Richard Goyder and CEO Ms Hudson denied having any discussions with government members about the Qatar Airways’ application.

Senate committee chair Brid­get McKenzie, the opposition’s transport spokeswoman, said Ms Hrdlicka’s evidence underlined the government’s close relationship with Qantas, describing their dealings as a “classic case of crony-capitalism”.

“I think the Virgin CEO’s evidence makes unequivocally clear the very cosy personal political relations between this government and Alan Joyce,” she said. “It’s concerning that all the evidence from airports, from airlines, from consumer groups backed additional capacity to Europe.

“It would seem from what we have seen so far the only submission to the government against expanding that capacity was Qantas.”

Days after the lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court, Mr Joyce brought forward his retirement from Qantas by two months to “accelerate the renewal process”.

His departure prompted calls by unions for Mr Goyder to follow suit, as chairman of the board that oversaw decisions such as the mishandling of Covid travel credits, the unlawful outsourcing of ­nearly 1700 workers and the awarding of huge executive bonuses. On Wednesday, Mr Goyder told the committee he had met with about 14 of Qantas’ top 20 major shareholders, and had been informed that he retained their confidence.

“The feedback I got was the continuity of leadership for me as chairman of the board, particularly with a new CEO,” Mr Goyder said. “I and the rest of the board take our roles very seriously. None of us will put our personal interests ahead of that. While I retain the confidence of shareholders, I will continue to serve.”

Questions were also asked about the government support for Qantas during the Covid period, which amounted to more than $2bn.

Ms Hudson said the executive team had considered paying back more than $1bn in Jobkeeper that was “mostly paid to employees” but decided it was not appropriate.

She said Qantas was one of the companies “worst impacted by Covid”, enduring $20bn in lost revenue, $7bn in losses and standing down 22,000 people.

“What our focus has been as an executive team is to focus on the future, to focus on customers and people,” she said.

Peter Dutton on Wednesday said Mr Joyce should front the Senate inquiry, remarking that the public was “rightly angry about the relationship between the Prime Minister and Mr Joyce”.

“I think that’s important, and necessary because the close relationship the Prime Minister has with Mr Joyce has obviously been subject to a lot of public speculation, been on the red carpet together regularly, they’re at all of these black tie events,” the Opposition Leader said.

“The fact is that Australians are paying more for their airfares now because of the government’s decision to exclude Qatar from coming into our country.”

Mr Joyce was expected to appear before the committee at a later date, after returning from overseas.

Jim Chalmers said Qantas needed to “work very hard to regain the trust and credibility” it had lost and the inquiry would help to clear the air.