Divesting drama
Today's push by the opposition's transport spokeswoman to extend proposed divestiture powers to aviation is another example of the reshaping of the main parties’ stances toward big business.
Heading into the return of parliament this week, Labor was facing criticism on multiple fronts, including a backflip over gender and sexuality questions in the census and whether it was at war with the Reserve Bank
Instead of following Napoleon Bonaparte’s advice to never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake, the federal opposition found itself in the awkward position today of having to deny it was planning to force Qantas to sell off budget carrier Jetstar.
In an opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review, opposition transport spokeswoman and Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said the Albanese government’s competition review “will be a failure if it does not address the role of divestiture in the Australian aviation sector”.
Essentially, she was suggesting that airlines should be threatened with divestiture if they use their monopoly powers to inflate airfares. The AFR splashed with the story on its front page, declaring that “Qantas could be threatened with the forced sell-off of its low-cost Jetstar brand under a proposal from the Coalition”.
