Mr ABBOTT ( Warringah — Prime Minister ) ( 14:03 ): I thank the member for Banks for his question. I appreciate that the member for Banks has lots of Qantas staff living in his electorate and he wants to give them every chance to keep their jobs and to be a continuing part of one of the world's great airlines. Qantas is one of the world's great airlines, and this government wants to see Qantas continue as one of the world's great airlines, and the best way to ensure this happens is to take the shackles away. That is why the first thing that the government is going to do for Qantas is to repeal part 3 of the Qantas Sale Act, which puts a whole lot of restrictions on Qantas which do not apply to Virgin. What this government wants to see is both big Australian airlines competing on the same playing field. The fair thing is to have both big Australian airlines competing on the same playing field. I have great faith in the staff and management of Qantas to compete. But we have got to take the shackles off. We have got to allow them to compete on the same playing field under the same conditions as their competitors, and that is what this government wants to do. Ms Macklin interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Jagajaga will desist. Mr ABBOTT: The other thing we want to do is make it easier for all Australian airlines to compete, to employ and to expand. We want all Australian airlines to flourish, and to do that we are going to repeal the carbon tax. The carbon tax is a tax on Australian airlines which other countries simply do not face. All of Qantas and Virgin's competitors do not face the carbon tax, so we are going to take it away. The carbon tax is a $106-million hit on Qantas jobs; it is a $48-million hit on Virgin jobs; it is a $2½ million hit on Rex jobs; and it should be gone. Mr Perrett interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Moreton. Mr ABBOTT: Let me just remind members opposite that two decades ago under a Labor government this parliament sold Qantas. It was a gutsy call by the then Labor government, but that was a gutsy Labor government. It was a gutsy Labor Party in those days. What we now need to do, having sold Qantas, is to give it its freedom, and that is what this government proposes.