QANTAS: Call for Qantas and Jetstar to be broken up by conservative politician

Brigit McKenzie, the opposition’s shadow minister for transport has called for the government to have the power to break up Qantas and its low-cost offshoot Jetstar.

In an opinion piece in the Australia Financial Review, McKenzie has shafted the current Labour government and their most recent Airline industry white paper. The Aviation White Paper lays out a policy path for the industry over the next 50 years.

It’s McKenzie’s claim that the government kowtow’s to ‘one airline’. Although she doesn’t name it as Qantas, all her inferences unquestionably mean she is targetting Qantas, and asking for the government to give itself ‘divestiture’ powers, meaning that it could divide Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar into two different entities.

‘The treasurer will have failed another reform opportunity unless he deals with divestiture as a measure to ensure consumers’ interests are protected, and not at the mercy of the entrenched duopoly, and the proper role of divestiture.’

Brigit McKenzie, AFR

A gym break is a long time in politics

Since I started writing this story, I took myself off to the gym, and by the time I got back, McKenzie had had to backdown after she was publicly undercut by her leader, Peter Dutton for suggesting forced airline breakups to be used to split Qantas from Jetstar.

For those unfamiliar with Australian politics. Australia has a multi-party system dominated by the progressive Labour Party. The conservative forces are formed by a coalition of the National Party and the Liberal Party, which belies its name. McKenzie belongs to the junior coalition member, the National Party, while coalition policy is dominated by the Liberal Party.

So, as the SMH points out, that new coalition policy announced in the AFR by coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie lasted just seven hours!

Many of her colleagues were surprised to read an article in the Australian Financial Review from McKenzie arguing that a government competition review would fail if it did not look at divestiture, which could force Qantas to sell its budget arm Jetstar to bring down airfares.

Nick Bonyhady, Paul Sakkal and Colin Kruger in the Sydney Morning Herald

In the face of a contradictory statement from Nationals Leader, David Littleproud, denying that the coalition had adopted divestiture as a policy to reduce airfares, McKenzie tried to argue that there was no change in the coalition position. She claiming that she explicitly ruled out the break up of Jetstar and Qantas. Unfortunately, there is nothing in her AFR piece that actually says that.

The perils of trying to take a political point, when you don’t consult your colleagues!

2PAXfly Takeout

Aviation, like most other government policies, is too important to be used just to score political points.

I have a soft spot for McKenzie. She has a habit of plain speaking about aviation when our government sometimes doesn’t. (I’m looking at you Catherine King, Minister for Transport, and your contradictory explanations for denying Qatar Airways additional frequencies).

This time, she has got herself tied up. Instead of sticking to politics, she tried to mix it with policy, and it has cost her credibility.