Coronavirus: It’s not fair, you should treat all airlines the same, says Alan Joyce

Big business and free-marketeers are pushing back on the prospective nationalisation of firms such as Virgin Australia.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce. Picture: Adam Yip

Big business and free-marketeers are pushing back on the prospective nationalisation of firms such as Virgin Australia hurt by the coronavirus downturn, as Scott Morrison says he has no plans yet to take over companies.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce led the charge against a temporary business takeover of his direct competitor, arguing that companies should be left to manage their way through COVID-19.

Economists are also warning that everything from big aviation businesses to smaller bus companies could face nationalisation as decades-old economic norms shift to deal with the pandemic.

Mr Joyce said on Friday that the nationalisation of Virgin — which is 90 per cent foreign-owned — would be “completely unfair”. “We would be competing against the federal government,” he told Sky News.

“It has to treat the aviation sector the exact same … When good companies have managed their position very well, the government should let them manage their way through this and not look after the badly managed companies, which have been badly managed for 10 years.”

Mr Joyce was backed up by Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott, who warned that the modern market system must survive the pandemic if the economy was to rebound.

“We do know that this will come to an end, unlike the global financial crisis … the job is to keep companies going,” she told Sky News. “The problem with nationalisation is what Alan Joyce said — it’s about picking winners.

“What we need to come out of this crisis is a modern market economy, not an economy that looks like something out of the 1950s. That is not the way to bounce back from this.”

The Prime Minister said the government was focused on providing support to businesses, rather than taking them over.

“We have provided great assistance to private companies to support important supply production in Australia. It is essential,” he said. “The Minister for Industry, Karen Andrews, has just been doing an outstanding job in progressing a number of those issues.

“We’re in unprecedented times but we have no plans to be involved in those sort of nationalisation programs. That is a response that is not justified by what we’re seeing or anticipating at present.”

Big business groups were not united against nationalisation measures on Friday, as Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said more businesses would need government assistance to stay afloat amid the prospect of a coronavirus-sparked recession. “This is an extraordinary situation … and extraordinary measures to respond to it will be required,’’ he said.