[Peetwo]

Albo throws DK under the bus; industry calls out White Paper bollocks?? - 

Via the Oz:

Qatar turbulence worsens as Anthony Albanese washes his hands of flights decision



The decision to deny Qatar Airways more flights into Australia was not taken by cabinet and key ministers were not consulted on the decision, with ANZ boss Shayne Elliott saying he was ­“disturbed” by the government’s protection of Qantas profits.

The Australian has been told that senior members of the government were not informed of the decision taken by Transport Minister Catherine King, with ­Anthony Albanese saying on Tues­day he was not responsible for knocking back the Qatari bid.

“Well, it’s not up to me. It’s up to the Transport Minister, who’s made the decision,” the Prime Minister said.

“But there are decisions like this all the time. I can state there is nothing unusual about this.

“There is nothing unusual about a nation state not having ­access to unlimited flights where- ever they like to go.

“Australian airlines are restricted from where they fly into. And the former government made a very similar decision under minister (Michael) McCormack exactly as Minister King has.”

Decisions on air traffic rights between Australia and other ­nations do not usually go to cabinet. But Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Trade Minister Don Farrell, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong were all unable to confirm by deadline on Tuesday that they were consulted over the decision taken by Ms King.

Ms King’s office instead said that she “consults with relevant colleagues on all matters, as ­appropriate”, but did not identify which colleagues she kept informed about the Qatar decision.

Internal frustration within Labor is growing over the political fallout from the rejection of the Qatar Airways bid and a failure to provide a clear explanation for it, given it was not a commercial decision. Ms King said on Monday it was “a decision that I have made as Minister for Transport in the ­national interest”.

Assistant Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh said that ­“national interest” was “one of those terms which is typically not defined in legislation that allows the decision maker to take a broad view right across the economy and right across society”.

The aviation sector will not be a key focus of a new competition taskforce established within Treasury, with Dr Leigh saying the “issue of airline competition is one that we explored in the forthcoming aviation green paper” to be released soon. Speaking at the QUT Business Leaders Forum in Brisbane on Tuesday, Mr Elliott said he was “disturbed” by reports the government knocked back Qatar’s request for additional flights in order to protect Qantas profits. His remarks follow comments by Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, who said the government did not want to drive airfares down to a level where it was unsustainable for the existing Australia-based carrier.

“I think that’s really disturbing and I don’t understand why one company is given that support,” Mr Elliott said. “This is a privately held, private enterprise company.”

While regulation was necessary, Qatar was a “safe, well-run airline” and Mr Elliott found it “a bit troubling to understand why they were blocked”.

Virgin chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said airfares could come down by up to 40 per cent if Qatar Airways was allowed to schedule more flights into Australia and more capacity was returned.

“Airfares are about 50 per cent higher today than they were pre-Covid,” she told ABC radio.

“Airfares are abnormally high today … The statistics say that two thirds of the seats that we are flying in and out of Australia are back and one third of seats are not yet back.

“If we get those seats back, airfares will be as low as they possibly could be. You know, I guess that would be a reduction of at least a third, maybe a 40 per cent reduction in airfares.”

Ms Hrdlicka said it was a “nonsense” for Qantas to have argued the Qatar bid represented a distortion of the market when there was “such little capacity that’s ­recovered”.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told parliament’s cost-of-living committee on Monday that allowing Qatar Airways extra flights into the country could have discouraged other carriers from increasing their capacity.

Qantas general secretary Andrew Finch repeated the claim on Tuesday before the House of Representatives standing committee on economics, saying that the significant capacity increases announced by Singapore Airlines and China Southern may not have happened if Qatar had been granted more flights.

“It’s quite possible those other airlines may not have been able to get their growth and capacity,” Mr Finch said, adding there was no guarantee more Qatar Airways flights would have cut airfares, adding that extra capacity by other airlines “more than compensated for those services”.

Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack agreed with Mr Albanese that he did put “on hold” a bid by Qatar to “get more flights into Australia” when he became transport minister in 2018. But it was not because he concluded the proposal went against the national interest – it was because he was new to the job. “I was new to the role and I thought I needed to consult widely,” he said. “I’d gone from the outer ministry to deputy prime minister. I wanted to make the right decision. Eventually I made the decision to allow Qatar into Australia. They didn’t get everything they wanted. But we opened up more flights.”

Mr McCormack also said he would have expected Ms King to have discussed the Qatar Airways bid with the Prime Minister before making her decision, revealing that he often consulted with Mr Albanese when he was the minister. “I consulted the now Prime Minister a few times about aviation matters because he had a deep knowledge,” he said. “I respected his judgment.”

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie took aim at Mr Albanese’s claim that he did not make the Qatar decision, arguing leaders should “take responsibility for their actions”.

During Mr Joyce’s appearance before a parliamentary hearing into the cost of living on Monday, it also emerged that the value of money held by Qantas in unclaimed travel credits for flights cancelled during the pandemic was not the $370m reported in the airline’s results.

Jetstar chief executive Steph Tully said it didn’t include $100m in travel credits yet to be claimed by passengers of the low-fares airline or overseas customers.

Courtesy Robert Mason on X...  : https://twitter.com/Seagullrm/status/169...7191940564

Robert Mason
@Seagullrm

Dear Diawy

Wots of people are talking about our decision to bwock Qatar Airwines fwom incweasing fwights to Austwawia. I am totawwy denying any knowwedge of this &, wike my fwiend Dan in Victowia, I've chosen to thwow the Minister under the bus. It's a good feewing.

Airbus Albo

Next, courtesy of the AFR 8 Aug 2023, the White Paper bollocks unravels for Dickie King and Albo...  :

 

Boss of long-awaited aviation white paper quits
Ayesha de Kretser
Senior reporter
Aug 8, 2023 – 6.29pm

The head of the federal government’s eagerly anticipated aviation white paper has resigned, raising more doubts about the government’s willingness to act on growing competition concerns in the airlines sector.

The Australian Financial Review confirmed the assistant secretary in charge of the long-awaited white paper, Jason Dymowski, quit his post and the green paper that was supposed to precede it has been pushed back.


Transport Minister Catherine King refuses to answer questions on why the government isn’t doing more for consumers. Akex Ellinghausen

The government had been expected to release a green paper by mid-year, but industry has been guided to now expect its release in September.

A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Catherine King said the department would not comment on individual personnel movements, but maintained the paper was on schedule. It is understood Mr Dymowski has moved to a new role in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The resignation comes as the government continues to dodge questions its refusal to act on recommendations already before it that would help to reduce the cost of flying for ordinary Australian travellers and boost international competition.

“The competitiveness of the airline sector is important to the Albanese government. That is why it is one of the four critical areas to be examined by the Aviation White Paper,” a spokeswoman said.

“Although the aviation sector has rebounded strongly post-pandemic, conditions are uneven the government has heard from a range of stakeholders about challenges in terms of competition, cost pressure and skills shortages.”

The Australian Airports Association backed calls to reinstate the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s surveillance of the airlines, which was put in place during COVID-19 to ward against concerns around competition while Virgin was in administration.

The government de-funded the ACCC, despite its request to maintain the surveillance given the two incumbent airlines hold more than 95 per cent of the domestic market and concerns about airline complaints processes.

ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb said there was no need to wait for the white paper to act on the commission’s recommendation to set up an airline ombudsman to deal with growing complaints.

The Financial Review reported that complaints have continued to surge since COVID-19, but data is not being released by the government’s department. Ms King’s spokeswoman said the government would reinstate monitoring “if the situation requires it”, but she would not say how much the current circumstances would need to deteriorate to prompt government intervention.

Appearing before the parliamentary inquiry into economic dynamism and competition, former productivity commission chairman Peter Harris also repeated his calls for the government to urgently establish proper auditing of the reasons that airlines cancel or delay flights.

The latest Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics data showed that 30 per cent of flights were delayed taking off or arriving in June, with the number expected to be worse in July because of ongoing issues with the government’s AirServices division.

Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka last week blamed a lack of air traffic controllers for recent delays.

The spokeswoman said the minister “looks forward to AirServices Australia improving the efficiency and consistency of our aviation networks”.

“She is seeking to ensure that AirServices Australia gets back up to its appropriate staffing level and is sufficiently resourced to deliver its vital airspace management work, which is critical to preserving Australia’s world-leading reputation,” she added.

One airline industry veteran said the white paper was expected to yield very little results for the flying public, questioning the minister’s resolve to act.

“A white paper is what you do when you don’t want to do anything,” said the source. “They’ll release it some time late next year and it will just drag into the next election.”

Hmm...that airline industry vet totally nails it...


MTF...P2 

PS: Remember that Airbus Albo has got prior form for being captured by airlines...

Cost of Albo's silence??