Opinion: Luke Gosling weighs in on airfare and grocery cost pressures

I meet regularly with the airlines servicing Darwin and advocate strongly for increase services and lower airfares, writes Solomon MP Luke Gosling.

While there have been a range of Government measures to address cost of living pressures for Territorians, airfares remain a glaring cost pressure for most families, especially as we approach the holiday season.

I meet with QANTAS and Virgin Australia often to discuss the extraordinary cost of domestic airfares.

When it comes to international flights – do you remember the good old days when we had any number of airlines flying in and out of Darwin – Air Asia, Royal Brunei, Tiger, Malaysia Airlines. The list went on.

We know that increased supply of seats drives lower affairs.

The latest BITRE data shows international fares have declined 5-10 per cent as seat numbers have increased 9 per cent in the same period.

The recent announcement of Qatar Airways’ potential stake in Virgin Australia coupled with this week’s announcement by Qantas of increased seats to Singapore and Melbourne including daytime flights suggest relief may be in sight.

Luke Gosling at the NT News Futures Northern Territory forum 2024. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Of course, lower airfares to Bali remains of keen interest to many locals and we have yet to

see any movement there.

The Aviation White Paper released in August plotted the path for aviation towards 2050.

It makes the point we all know, that Australia’s domestic aviation market is highly concentrated – with Qantas Group and Virgin Australia dominating the market.

It adds the point that Australia’s capital city airports are natural monopolies, with no effective substitutes available for many users.

This structure creates a clear role for the Australian Government to oversee the aviation sector to ensure it operates in the best interest of consumers.

The government will perform this role through ACCC price and service monitoring and a range of measures to improve efficiency and reduce any anti-competitive behaviour by airlines and airports as well as an Industry Ombudsman. 

Dry stuff but essential to deal with the realities of the aviation sector.

The White Paper also raises an issue I have been pursuing around cabotage – foreign airlines providing Australian domestic aviation services.

There are a range of reasons why cabotage may not work locally.

Even though submissions suggest there is little interest from international carriers to operate domestic flights within Australia, I am eager to see if we can set Darwin up as a trial site for cabotage should that change.

I meet regularly with the airlines servicing Darwin and advocate strongly for increase services and lower airfares.

How we can drive the competition to generate the lower fares we saw back in the day is front of mind.

Aldi is expanding into North Queensland - so why not the NT?

Airlines and supermarkets share a lot of similarities in terms of competition and concentration.

So, like the aviation sector, the government is driving a range of initiatives to ensure the major supermarkets are playing fair and delivering lower prices for all Australians.

Fighting ‘shrinkflation’ by strengthening the Unit Pricing Code.

Providing a $30 million boost to the ACCC to crack down on market conduct that pushes up cost-of-living pressures for Australians, like misleading and deceptive pricing practices and other unconscionable conduct by supermarkets and retailers.

Developing a mandatory Food and Grocery Code (which was voluntary under the previous Federal Government) as well as addressing planning and zoning for supermarkets that push out competitors and supporting CHOICE to monitor prices quarterly giving Australians accurate data on where to get the cheapest groceries.

This CHOICE data drives my push to get Aldi here in Darwin and Palmerston.

Aldi has opened new stores in regional Queensland towns with smaller populations than the greater Darwin region such as Gladstone, Rockhampton (pictured) and Mackay. It is also about to build a second store in Townsville, and second stores in Rockhampton and Mackay.

Aldi is up to 25 per cent cheaper than its competitors.

One clear difference to the aviation sector is that unlike the lower cost alternative Jetstar, Aldi is independent.

While nay sayers are plenty a lot of locals have contacted me to provide concrete support and encouragement.

Issues around distribution and fresh food are frequently raised and I am working with a range of local players to provide concrete solutions for these issues.

I was in Queensland recently where Aldi has 116 stores.

They have expanded up the coast to North Queensland so why not up the track to Darwin as many other players have done – Bunnings, Officeworks, Guzman Y Gomez – the list goes on. 

Aldi talks about supporting locals, ‘helping our mates’ and tackling food insecurity.

Sounds like a Territory company to me!

Originally published as Opinion: Luke Gosling weighs in on airfare and grocery cost pressures