Facing allegations of being too near Qantas, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sought to show the tables, launching a sensational query time assault on the previous Coalition authorities.
The opposition has accused the federal government of being “too close” to the nationwide service and has sought to probe whether or not Qantas lobbied Transport Minister Catherine King earlier than she determined to dam Qatar’s bid to extend its flight choices to Australia.
Hit with a query about when he’d final hosted former Qantas boss Alan Joyce at both of his formal residences, or on-board his non-public airplane, Mr Albanese hit out at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for spreading “lies”.
Coalition backbencher Melissa Price requested Mr Albanese when he had final welcomed Mr Joyce at Kirribilli House, the Lodge or on-board his non-public airplane and whether or not the pair had mentioned Qatar’s bid at the moment.
Mr Albanese turned visibly fired up, positing that any questions on being too near the airline needs to be reserved for former prime minister Scott Morrison.
“The question should go to the member for Cook because (Mr Joyce) has never been at Kirribilli or the Lodge on my watch, not once,” Mr Albanese mentioned.
“Last time he was there, Scott Morrison was the prime minister of Australia.”
Mr Albanese chastised Mr Dutton for happening radio final week to unfold the “lie” earlier than turning to assault the previous Coalition authorities for being too near Qantas.
“They sided with Qantas when it grounded its fleet in 2011 and knocked out its workforce, we stood up for the workforce,” Mr Albanese mentioned.
“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.”
After query time concluded, Mr Albanese was compelled so as to add to his reply, confirming that Mr Joyce had been amongst business figures who had hitched a journey on his non-public airplane to Canberra after the Business Council of Australia dinner final yr.
During query time, Coalition frontbencher Paul Fletcher requested Mr Albanese whether or not the federal government had acquired Qantas’ endorsement of the Voice referendum in change for blocking Qatar’s bid.
Seemingly incredulous of being requested such a query, Mr Albanese mentioned firms had been backing the Voice as a result of “they understand … that this is a good thing”.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
