Mr BAIRD (4:41 PM) —I rise today to speak on this matter of public importance. I also regard this as a matter of importance. In my electorate I see more airline employees from all airlines than anyone else around Australia, and I certainly have met with a number of them. I have spoken to them on the phone. Last Saturday when I was at Dolans Bay I met with a group of 30 of them. I listened to their stories and their concerns for the future. That is one of the reasons that I was quickly on the phone to speak to the Deputy Prime Minister about the concerns of the Ansett employees.

This government has addressed those issues. Number one in terms of the issues that people raised was the protection of their own entitlements. This government, despite what was said by the opposition's mates outside and the trade union officials that the government has given no commitment to entitlements, has made clear provision for entitlements both now and in the longer term. We have provided for unpaid wages, unpaid annual leave, unpaid long service leave, and redundancy up to the community standard of eight weeks. That is what the government has provided. The shadow minister for transport, who has left this House, and the Leader of the Opposition and their mates in the unions have clearly been deceptive, because the government has given what the unions have predominantly asked for and what the employees have asked for in the protection of their rights. Coming face to face with the Ansett employees, they are a pragmatic lot. They have put forward their views forcibly to me and I have listened to their concerns. But when we look at their record, we see the hypocrisy of the opposition. Let us look at what they did in the 13 years they were in government.

Mr Laurie Ferguson —This is what Bob Carr says about you and Greiner.

Mr BAIRD —The shadow minister's brother up there as a part of the glee club would want to disagree, but just listen for a minute. You have had your say and we listened in silence. Firstly, the airline strike that you did as a deal involving the then Prime Minister and his mate Peter Abeles brought the industry to its knees. It took 10 years for the tourism industry to recover from that. Everybody in the tourism industry around Australia knew what you did to the airline industry and to tourism right across the board.

Mr BAIRD —The shadow minister at the table would well know what the tourism industry thought about that episode.

There was also your record in relation to Compass Airlines: you just let them go to the wall. There was no assistance. You did not believe that they needed any financial bailing out; you let them go to the wall. Now you come in here and say, `This is different.' Why is it different? Is there any circumstance that is different? That was 1,000 airline employees who went to the wall and you said, `I'm sorry; we can't help you.' So we have one standard when you are in government, but when you are in opposition you want a totally different standard.

It was you, the opposition, who deregulated the industry and allowed new players in, providing real competition for Ansett. You set the ground rules. Former Prime Minister Keating put together Qantas and Australian Airlines, which created a huge monolith and caused competition between one domestic carrier and a combined international and domestic carrier. You put those two airlines together and that is when the problem started.

Then we have the problems of management. You come into the House and want to talk about your record. Your record is very clear. Let us look at the record of the management. We had Sir Peter Abeles who, every time he went overseas, ordered a new aircraft—supported by your government. Your government could not get closer to Peter Abeles. If he wanted a new type of aircraft for every day in the week, he got it. That was one of the major problems in the management of Ansett. News Ltd and TNT were there, and they did not put in the capital for the refinancing of the airline. So that created major problems. Then they went overseas. They decided they would go only to Asia, and the Asian crisis hit. So again there were problems. Then Virgin arrived, and Compass—which provided real competition. So we see the problems with Ansett management all the way through. Yet when those opposite speak in this House it is as if those problems did not exist. It is as if we have got one player—the Australian government. They do not talk about the Air New Zealand board, the New Zealand government, the management of Air New Zealand, or the management of Ansett. They have all disappeared out the window. We are talking about a New Zealand managed organisation, managed out of Auckland—not out of Sydney and not out of the minister's office. Which government was in power in New Zealand? Was it a conservative government that we did some deal with? Your mates across the Tasman made all the decisions, all the running.

Air New Zealand had the opportunity, when the presentation was made by Singapore Airlines, to increase the equity from 25 per cent to 35 per cent to 49 per cent. They were examining it. They went on examining it, and I cannot recall, at any stage, the New Zealand finance minister saying, `The New Zealand transport minister is standing in our way. He won't cooperate. He won't give these agreements.' The Australian transport minister, John Anderson, has done a fantastic job. He has gone to New Zealand and he has met with the finance minister. He has done everything possible to try to assist in terms of this deal. He has put up two parallel proposals, one with Singapore Airlines taking more equity and the other with Qantas taking the Singapore Airlines equity and Singapore Airlines taking over Ansett. What more could he do?

If you look at the decisions that were made by the board of Air New Zealand and what the minister was advised, it becomes very clear where the responsibility lies. It lies very clearly over the Tasman. It does not lie with this government, and it certainly does not lie with this minister. You people will go out and lie about what the real situation is, but that is the fact. Only a couple of months ago, Gary Toomey talked about his grand scheme to reinvest several billion dollars in the airline. They were going to fly to London, they were going to fly to New York, they were going to fly to the west coast of the USA, they were going to fly to Tokyo, they were going to totally redevelop the airline with new aircraft, and they were going to put several billion dollars into it. My colleagues here who are members of the Friends of Tourism would remember the occasion just a couple of months ago when Gary Toomey was saying to the minister—

Mr Sidebottom —It is a national disaster! What a farce!

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —Order! The honourable member for Braddon!

Mr BAIRD —The board were saying they had a billion dollars. The New Zealand government had responsibility for the management of both airlines. They had the full cooperation of this minister, and he did not flinch in terms of his responsibility to them.

If we look at the events of recent times, it is clear that the New Zealand government knew only in recent days of the full seriousness of the situation with Ansett. They drew it to the attention of the minister, and the minister has attempted, by all means available to him, to provide assistance. And what has he done since? He has ensured that all of the workers' entitlements are covered. We have seen a bailout unlike any other in Australian corporate history. I believe that the minister deserves full credit and congratulations for that. He has also seen that an administrator has been appointed, and they are considering every alternative. I believe that to expect anything else of this minister is totally unrealistic. It is absolutely clear that the real responsibility for these decisions lies with the New Zealand government and the board of Air New Zealand—not the minister for transport or this government.