Qantas faces inquiry over use of airport slots
Qantas officials will be grilled on allegations the carrier has been misusing slots at Australia’s busiest airport, AAP reports.
A Senate inquiry is examining proposed laws on flights at Sydney airport, which result in penalties for airlines which deliberately cancel services to maintain valuable slots at terminals.
Markus Svensson, chief executive of Qantas’s domestic operations, will appear before the inquiry on Tuesday, along with officials from regional airline FlyPelican.
Slots at Sydney airport are limited to 80 take-offs and landings per hour. But the Australian Airports Association, which is also appearing at the inquiry today, said large cancellation numbers represented a concern. The association said in its submission to the inquiry:
These higher cancellation rates suggest that … unnecessary flights are scheduled and cancelled for strategic slot-retention purposes. [This] has become a barrier to competition, allowing a duopoly that stifles the entry of new carriers and ultimately limits consumer choice.
Under the proposed laws, the federal transport department would have powers to force airlines to provide information on alleged misuse.
Qantas Group and Virgin have consistently denied they misuse slots. In its submission, Qantas said there was a common interest to ensure capacity at Sydney airport was used effectively:
We look forward to working with the government to understand how the bill, regulations, slot management scheme and any associated guidance material will work in practice.
Key events
Firefighters respond to industrial fire in southwest Sydney
More than 100 firefighters worked to contain a large fire in a southwest Sydney auto repair shop overnight.
It took crews around two hours to contain the “intense fire” which started around 6pm, Fire and Rescue NSW said, in an industrial area at Stubbs Street in Auburn.
The roof of the building had started to collapse but firefighters protected neighbouring properties, including an adjoining timber warehouse and petrol station.
Last night it was unsafe for firefighters to enter the collapsed building to fully extinguish it. A number of people were evacuated from surrounding businesses and residents were urged to stay inside, with a large amount of smoke.
Two people in the auto repair shop were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and burns. Operations were expected to continue throughout the night.
Parramatta Road was closed in both directions between Rawson Street and St Hilliers Road, but was reopened early this morning.
There has been a fire on Stubbs St, Auburn near the intersection of Parramatta Rd. The fire is contained but is expected to smoulder overnight. Because there may be smoke in the area, residents and businesses in the vicinity are advised to keep doors, windows, and vents closed. pic.twitter.com/J8cGMgqbHh
— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) November 11, 2024
Rex gets multi-million lifeline for regional flights
Embattled regional airline Rex has been thrown an operations lifeline, AAP reports, after it went into voluntary administration in July and its management was handed to administrators EY Australia.
The transport minister Catherine King and workplace minister Murray Watt have today announced the government would provide up to $80m and grant early access to entitlements for Rex’s former employees.
Rex’s administrators plan to apply to the federal court to extend the voluntary administration to 30 June, 2025. If the application is granted the government will continue to guarantee ticket sales made throughout the administration period to that date.
The ministers said the guarantee has been effective so far, “and has yet to be used with flight bookings holding up well.”
More than 600 workers were made redundant as it was revealed Rex was struggling under the weight of $500m of debt. In August, the federal government stepped in to guarantee bookings on regional flights, but resisted calls for a bailout.
The administration process for Rex was progressing, the government said as it noted the recent sale of its Pel Air Aviation business to Helicorp Pty Ltd, which is part of Toll Aviation. The sale proceeds will be used to repay secured creditors.
Victorian Greens pushes to enshrine abortion services in state’s constitution
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian Greens will use the second last week of parliament for the year to push to enshrine abortion services into the state’s constitution.
While both major parties have no plans to change abortion laws in the state, the Greens say the issue is becoming increasingly politicised and access much be safe guarded.
The party’s health spokesperson, Dr Sarah Mansfield, says access was already a postcode lottery in Victoria and the state “can’t afford to be sent backwards”.
Around the world, and here in Australia, we are seeing many in power increasingly emboldened to attack reproductive rights for political purposes. Reproductive rights have been hard-won, but it’s clear the fight isn’t over. Governments shouldn’t be able to restrict access to fundamental health care based on political agendas.
The change requires a supermajority of 60% of votes in the parliament to pass.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has vowed to protect abortion rights in the state despite “frightening” debate in South Australia and Queensland.
Good morning
Emily Wind
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties. Thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us. I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
As always, you can reach out with any tips, feedback or questions via X, @emilywindwrites, or sending me an email: [email protected]. Let’s go.
Australian author shortlisted for Booker prize
Charlotte Wood, who has been shortlisted for the Booker prize, “is a writer of the most intense attention”, according to the British screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s review of her shortlisted book, Stone Yard Devotional.
The book’s protagonist is a woman retreating from the world to a convent in New South Wales and is the story, Cottrell-Boyce writes, “of a small group of people in a tiny town, but its resonance is global. This is a powerful, generous book”.
She is an 11-2 outsider to win the £50,000 ($100,000) prize, with the American Percival Everett and Briton Samantha Harvey the bookies’ favourites. You can read our full story here:
And then there is Cottrell-Boyce’s review:
Sarah Basford Canales
Jim Chalmers also pointed to the importance of economic ties when building stronger diplomatic relations with Pacific partners. The treasurer said recent work in his portfolio had led to restoring Australia as the Pacific nations’ partner of choice.
Chalmers confirmed he was in the final stages of negotiations with ANZ to ensure it continued its presence in the Pacific
The major Australian bank’s nine existing operations, which include services in Vanuatu and Fiji, will continue operating, he said.
The deal we’re working on is another big part of our efforts to keep communities and economies connected, and finance flowing in our neighbourhood.
Chalmers: ‘Nobody wins from a trade war, but we have more at stake than most’
Sarah Basford Canales
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has warned that decoupling from major trading partners, such as China, presents a great risk to Australia’s economy, but “derisking” key supply chains could leave the country in a better position than most of the world.
In a speech delivered at an Australian Institute of International Affairs forum in Canberra last night, Chalmers said derisking trade relations was sometimes necessary in the face of unreliable supply chains and other forms of economic or geopolitical tension. Chalmers said:
Most countries are doing this in one way or another and we are no exception … Because of our combination of industrial, geographical, geological, meteorological, and geopolitical advantages, we stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries of de-risking.
Chalmers conceded Australia was “more exposed than others” in the “global fragmentation” of trade, noting recent IMF’s findings that trade ties have deepened between geopolitically aligned countries, while declining between those who are not.
But he said Australia’s energy, technology and critical minerals would be key in building regional and global supply chains. Developing new industries in green metals and green hydrogen would also contribute to global demand.
Nobody wins from a trade war, but we have more at stake than most.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s win in the US election, the world’s economies are watching closely. During his campaign, the US president-elect said he would place baseline tariffs of 10% on all imported goods, with up to 60% and 100% for China and Mexico respectively. The ripples of such a policy shift on tariffs could lead to lower growth and higher inflation in a number of countries who trade with the US.
The treasurer warned Australia would not be immune from the flow-on effects of escalating trade tensions but insisted the Albanese government was “well-placed and well-prepared”.
Qantas faces inquiry over use of airport slots
Qantas officials will be grilled on allegations the carrier has been misusing slots at Australia’s busiest airport, AAP reports.
A Senate inquiry is examining proposed laws on flights at Sydney airport, which result in penalties for airlines which deliberately cancel services to maintain valuable slots at terminals.
Markus Svensson, chief executive of Qantas’s domestic operations, will appear before the inquiry on Tuesday, along with officials from regional airline FlyPelican.
Slots at Sydney airport are limited to 80 take-offs and landings per hour. But the Australian Airports Association, which is also appearing at the inquiry today, said large cancellation numbers represented a concern. The association said in its submission to the inquiry:
These higher cancellation rates suggest that … unnecessary flights are scheduled and cancelled for strategic slot-retention purposes. [This] has become a barrier to competition, allowing a duopoly that stifles the entry of new carriers and ultimately limits consumer choice.
Under the proposed laws, the federal transport department would have powers to force airlines to provide information on alleged misuse.
Qantas Group and Virgin have consistently denied they misuse slots. In its submission, Qantas said there was a common interest to ensure capacity at Sydney airport was used effectively:
We look forward to working with the government to understand how the bill, regulations, slot management scheme and any associated guidance material will work in practice.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories before I hand the news baton to Emily Wind.
Amid the swirl of concern about Donald Trump pressing reset on global economic norms, Jim Chalmers has warned that de-coupling from major trading partners presents a great risk to Australia’s economy. “Nobody wins from a trade war, but we have more at stake than most,” the treasurer said in a speech last night. Full details coming up.
Three in five Australian renters expect to never own their own home, research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has found, describing it as a significant shift that requires rethinking of tax and housing systems. Meanwhile the principal of a branch of one of Australia’s largest real estate companies has admitted using Chat GPT to generate property listings after a rental home was advertised as being close to two “excellent” schools that didn’t exist.
Charlotte Wood, the Australian author of Stone Yard Devotional, has been shortlisted for the Booker prize but is an outside bet against favourites Percival Everett and Samantha Harvey. Full details coming up.
And Qantas is up before a Senate inquiry today, ahead of proposed laws that look to make sure precious flight slots at Australia’s busiest airport are not being misused to suppress competition. More on that too, soon.
