Anthony Albanese says rejecting more Qatar Airways flights was a ‘nothing decision’

Anthony Albanese has hit back at the Coalition over its attack on the government’s rejection of more flights from Qatar Airways, saying it was a ‘nothing decision’.

Anthony Albanese in question time on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Anthony Albanese has dismissed the importance of the blocking of more Qatar Airways flights to Australia in July, describing it as a “nothing decision” and arguing that he did not need to be ­informed by Transport Minister Catherine King.

The Prime Minister told parliament that the rejection of an extra 28 flights a week from Qatar Airways was a “status quo, nothing decision being made – (a) nothing decision to keep exactly the same thing that was put in place just one year ago”.

However, the decision to knock back the Qatar application has been questioned by some of the nation’s leading economists, competition experts, business figures and the head of the competition watchdog, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, who said it would have driven down airfares.

Mr Albanese said on Monday that there was no need for Ms King to have informed him of her July 10 decision even though he was unaware of it when he spoke with Virgin chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka by phone from Perth on July 13 while in transit to Canberra from the NATO summit.

“The idea that I’m at a NATO summit and the Minister for Transport thinks she’ll ring me up or contact me to tell me that nothing is happening. It’s just bizarre … It’s just bizarre,” he said.

“I can also confirm the Environment Minister didn’t ring me up to tell me nothing was happening. The Treasurer didn’t bring me up to tell me nothing was happening. The Education Minister didn’t ring me up to tell me that nothing was happening. And the Energy Minister didn’t tell me he was still sticking with net-zero by 2050.”

Pressed on whether she had consulted with Qantas on the Qatar decision, Ms King was again unable to definitely rule out talks but said most of her conversations had focused on the government’s industrial relations reforms.

“Again, from my recollection, the discussions I have had with Qantas recently have, in the main, been about their concerns about our closing the labour loophole legislation,” she said. “The fact is that myself, and my office has ­received more lobbying on behalf of Qatar Airways than we did on behalf of Qantas.”

Asked whether he had ever dined with former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce at Kirribilli or the Lodge, Mr Albanese urged the Opposition to ask former prime minister Scott Morrison.

“He (Mr Joyce) has never been at Kirribilli or the Lodge on my watch. Not once. The last time he was there, Scott Morrison was the prime minister of Australia,” Mr Albanese said.

“The Leader of the Opposition went on 2GB last week and just asserted this to be a fact. It was a lie.”

He also hit back at the opposition after a week of Peter Dutton claiming that Labor had struck a “sweetheart deal” with Qantas by rejecting the Qatar application, suggesting the Coalition had enjoyed closer ties with the national carrier.

“They sided with Qantas when it grounded its fleet in 2011 and locked out its workforce,” Mr ­Albanese said. “We stood up for the workforce.

“They sided with Qantas when its major competitor, Virgin, collapsed into administration in 2020.

“They sided with Qantas when it sacked and outsourced thousands of its workforce. They delivered $2.7bn in taxpayer support including almost $900m in JobKeeper without putting in place any mechanism to get any funding back.”

Mr Albanese was also directly asked by the opposition for the first time about whether Qantas’ support for the Yes campaign was one of the factors that led to the government’s decision to block the Qatar Airways bid for more flights.

He rejected the suggestion. The Prime Minister said “every major business in Australia” was supporting the referendum and listed a number of groups: “Woolworths, Coles, Telstra, BHP, Rio Tinto, the Business Council of Australia, the Catholic Church, the Council of Imams, the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, Rugby Australia, Netball Australia are all supporting the Yes campaign.”  In the upper house, the government failed to produce documents that had been requested by the Senate, including an order for all advice, briefings or submissions provided by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to Mr Albanese relating to the application by Qatar Airways. A request by the Senate for any advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to Trade Minister Don Farrell on the Qatar application was also not complied with.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said the government had treated the Senate with “disrespect” and that the advice had not been provided because it went against the decision made by Ms King.