THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP

MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS
THURSDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2023

SUBJECTS: AVIATION SENATE INQUIRY; YES CAMPAIGN; DISABLITY ROYAL COMMISSION.

DANICA DE GIORGIO, HOST: Welcome back to First Edition. Let's return now to one of our top stories. Qantas bosses and federal politicians are expected to trade blows again when the Aviation Senate inquiry resumes this morning. Joining me now live is Environment and Water Minister, Tanya Plibersek. Minister, thank you for your time. Today the inquiry wants to understand the process the Transport Department and Minister took in arriving at her decision to block Qatar Airways from more flights into Australia. Documents released so far have really been almost entirely censored. Why the secrecy?

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, the first thing I have to say is Qatar could have flown more flights into Australia. They could have flown into Cairns or the Gold Coast or Canberra or Adelaide or a number of other airports. They could have increased the size of the planes that they were flying into Sydney and Melbourne. They could have brought more passengers if they want to. So, let's start with the facts, they could have brought more people to Australia if they wanted to.

I think the inquiry will work its way through the evidence over the next few days. I think there's been some very interesting information coming out about Qantas, and it does show that Qantas has a significant job to do to re-establish the trusted position that it traditionally had in Australia, to work better, to make sure that its passengers have full confidence in the airline.

My dad worked for Qantas for 21 years. He was a plumber on the jet base and we were always proud to be a Qantas family. I really am thinking about the staff of the airline at the moment who show so much loyalty to the airline and don't always see that returned.

DE GIORGIO: Chairman Richard Goyder was put under pressure yesterday in particular, and shareholders are already demanding his resignation. Your colleague Bill Shorten is also calling for him to go. Do you agree? Should Richard Goyder stand down under the circumstances?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, you know, Qantas is a private company and the shareholders will make decisions about the board, but what I would say is it's never the CEO alone that sets the direction of a company. The board has to be answerable to their shareholders, of course. But also, I think, more broadly for the reputation of the airline has to be answerable to the Australian public. And the revelation that Qantas considered paying back a billion dollars worth of JobKeeper but decided not to, I think is a real I don't know, it is pretty disappointing to know that.

And, of course, the primary responsibility is with the previous government that managed to give out billions of dollars of taxpayers money to companies that actually saw their profits increase during COVID I think there still is something for the board to consider, whether they really have been meeting the sort of standards that Australians expect of great institutions, iconic Australian companies like Qantas.

DE GIORGIO: You mentioned that Qantas is a private company, yet it did voice its support, of course, of the Yes campaign, and that's something that was put under a microscope yesterday. It didn't go well for Qantas in the first place. Bosses couldn't answer questions about who made the decision to support the Yes campaign for the referendum. Should companies be getting involved in political debates in the first place?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, isn't it interesting that the Liberals and Nationals always talk about how much in favour they are of free speech until someone says something that they disagree with, and then there's this sort of pressure put on companies to bully them out of expressing a view that they've come to as a company. Are they going to bully the Uniting Church next? Are they going to go after the Catholics? Are they going to go after the NRL and the AFL? Are they going to go after Wesfarmers and the other companies that are supporting a Yes vote?

I mean, perhaps the better question is why are so many prominent Australian organisations supporting the Yes campaign? Because they see it will make a difference for First Nations. Because the people who are involved, including their staff, say that they want to see changes to our constitution that recognise indigenous Australians, and they want to see a body set up that would provide advice to the Parliament, so the Parliament makes better decisions when it comes to issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

DE GIORGIO: All right, let's move on now. The Disability Royal Commission will release its report today. What do you think we can expect?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I think this Royal Commission will be - the report will be disturbing reading. The reason that we argued so hard for a Disability Royal Commission is because, as members of Parliament, we constantly have heard stories that are disturbing stories about the abuse and neglect of people with disability.

We supported the Royal Commission and argued for it at the time and it has been going now for a number of years. It's collected an enormous amount of evidence. We saw some of the sort of disturbing stories on Four Corners on Monday night about the misuse of restraints against - including young children. I think this will make for disturbing reading.

And the important thing now is to make sure that people with disability can live safely, can be part of our community in safety, that the institutions that are supposed to support and look after them are truly doing that.

DE GIORGIO: All right, just finally, before we let you go, Jacinta Allan is now Premier of Victoria. How confident are you that she's the right person to take Labor to the next state election?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I'm 100 per cent confident. I've known Jacinta Allan for many, many years. And as Victorians see her in the role of Premier, they will see what I've seen over those years, someone who is hardworking, who is dedicated, who is sincere, who only wants the best for the people of Victoria.

So, I certainly wish Jacinta Allan the best in the role. I know that she is 100 per cent ready to do it and she'll do a marvellous job.

DE GIORGIO: Tanya Plibersek, we'll leave it there. Appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

END