Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:38): I thank the shadow trade minister for his question. The shadow trade minister doesn't know that freight is unlimited. It's unlimited on any airline, anywhere, any time, and he asks a question about the impact of— Mr Hogan interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The Prime Minister will pause. The Member for Page has asked his question. He is warned. He will not interject on the Prime Minister for this answer, or he'll leave the chamber. Mr ALBANESE: As I was saying before with regard to this question on this issue of Qatar, I'll make two points. One is that the deal that was asked for in February 2018 took not that term but till January 2022 to come into place. That was an interesting deal because it wasn't just over flights. What they did on that deal was put in a safeguarding mechanism, a special thing which other countries did not have to do, to safeguard Australia's national interest. That was put in the agreement between Australia and Qatar. Unlike any agreement that was made during the six years in which I was a minister, there was a special agreement put in, and I agree with the actions of the transport minister. The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister will pause. The Manager of Opposition Business? Mr Fletcher: It was a very specific question about the discussions the Prime Minister has had with Qantas's chief executive, senior directors or executives. The Prime Minister is conspicuously avoiding dealing with that matter. If he doesn't have an answer, he should be— The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. The Prime Minister is being relevant under the standing orders. He's speaking in great detail about the arrangements of deals regarding the airlines mentioned. You mightn't like the answer, but the Prime Minister is being relevant. Mr ALBANESE: This updated deal was a special arrangement between Australia and Qatar, because the Australian government at the time was clearly concerned about an abuse of market power. I assume that's why it was put into the agreement. That is something that I do not think has been put out there—I don't think there was a media release done at the time—but that was done because of the special circumstances which are there. If you want to keep asking questions about this, I'll go through the whole answer. I had one extensive conversation with someone about Qatar. It was not someone from Qantas. In terms of the arrangements that are made, the truth is that a lot of the time, when these agreements are put in, they are deferred. There is nothing unusual about that. Indeed, when I was a minister, Qatar had their access doubled from seven to 14 flights in February 2009. There's an aviation green paper process underway to make sure that we get all of the settings right, just as, when I was a minister, I put in place the green paper and white paper which set Australia up with the most competitive aviation market in the world, bar none. Ms Catherine King interjecting— Dr Chalmers interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government will cease interjecting.