Wayne Swan backs ‘appropriate review’ of Qatar flight decision

Labor’s national president, Wayne Swan, has backed an ‘appropriate review’ of the government decision to reject more flights from Qatar Airways.

Australian Labor Party national president Wayne Swan. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

Labor’s national president, Wayne Swan, has backed an ­“appropriate review” of the government decision to reject more flights from Qatar Airways, as the competition watchdog argues for the first time that the extra services would have reduced airfares.

The Coalition and Greens intend to target Anthony Albanese over the rejection of the Qatar bid when parliament resumes on Monday, with some Labor MPs also keen to receive a briefing on the reasons for the decision.

Peter Dutton has accused the government of striking a “sweetheart deal” to protect Qantas, one of the highest-profile corporate backers of the voice to parliament. Qantas has chosen to fly Yes supporters for free during the campaign at an expected cost of $500,000.

The airline is now facing a lawsuit brought by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission over allegations it sold tickets for 8000 cancelled flights, with the agency seeking a penalty of about $250m – double the $125m record penalty a company has received for breaching consumer law.

Mr Swan on Friday said the airline had engaged in “price gouging and deceptive conduct”, and there were “real questions to be answered”. In light of the ACCC action, he suggested the government revisit its decision to reject the Qatar Airways bid.

“These things are negotiated from government to government from time to time, and I think an appropriate review of where things are, given all these revelations, would be good,” he told the Today program.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie backed Mr Swan, saying Australians ­“deserved to know why their government is seemingly protecting Qantas over putting downward pressure on airfares in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis”.

Senator Bridget McKenzie.

Senator Michaelia Cash. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash called on Mr Albanese to “front this country” and “tell us why it was in our national interest” to ­reject the Qatar bid.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Got­tlieb said that allowing Qatar Airways more flights into Australia would have reduced airfares for customers, declaring “we would welcome more competition”.

She said identifying how much lower prices would be was “difficult to predict” but noted Virgin had provided an estimate of up to 40 per cent. “The point we are very well aware of is the test in ­national interest here will include additional factors to competition,” she said. “And we don’t know what was considered there.”

Ms Cass-Gottlieb warned the record penalty sought against Qantas would be a clear way “to deter conduct of this nature” and argued that companies were “not sufficiently” scared of the consequences of breaching consumer law. “We think the penalties should be in the hundreds of millions, not tens of millions, for breaches,” she said.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Transport Minister Catherine King told The Weekend Australian the allegations against ­Qantas were “deeply concerning” and it was a reminder for large corporations to do the right thing.

“This is the consumer watchdog doing its job and a reminder that businesses need to do the right thing by people,” she said.

Former ACCC chair Allan Fels told Sky News that “if Qatar came in (airfares) would fall 20, 30, 40 per cent” and that the decision to knock back its bid was a “very bad start” for a government reviewing competition policy.

The Greens are also planning to ramp up the heat on Labor over its handling of the Qatar decision by introducing an order for the production of documents motion in the Senate on Monday.

Greens senator Janet Rice will request access to the departmental advice.