ANZ’s Elliott says government’s Qantas-Qatar block is ‘disturbing’
The head of big bank ANZ has said the federal government’s intervention in blocking Qatar Airways flights to keep the national carrier Qantas profitable was “disturbing”.
“I don’t understand why one company is given that support. This is a … private enterprise company, I thought. And I’m struggling to think of a parallel where that would be the case,” ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said on Tuesday.
Shayne Elliott on Tuesday.
The government has long claimed its move to block an additional 28 Qatar Airways flights per week into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was in the “national interest”. On Monday, the federal government gave another explanation for blocking extra flights from Qatar, saying it was a bad outcome if prices went down to a level that was unsustainable for an Australian-based carrier.
But Mr Elliott, speaking at a QUT Business Leaders Forum luncheon in Brisbane, said he was “quite disturbed” by reports the government had blocked the extra flights “with some thought to protecting Qantas’ profits”.
“I thought that we believed in the market economy and competition. I understand there should be regulation. [Qatar is] a safe, well-run airline. I don’t think the argument was anything to do with unfair [practices], like anti-dumping or anything,” Mr Elliott said.
“I found it a bit troubling to understand why they were blocked, particularly when any of you who fly know that all the planes are full and they’re really, really expensive.”
Melbourne-based ANZ itself is running a federal gauntlet with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently blocking its $4.9 billion bid for Brisbane-based Suncorp’s banking arm. ANZ and Suncorp have appealed the decision, and ultimately any approval must be cleared
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