Aussies are Right

ACT Leader Richard Prebble said today that the Australian Commerce Commission was both right in law and in rationale in declining the Air New Zealand/Qantas merger.

"There is no way that the creation of a monopoly on New Zealand's domestic main front and a dramatic reduction in competition on the Tasman is in the interests of the travelling public, tourism industry or exporters.

"When I was Minister of Civil Aviation, Air New Zealand and Civil Aviation officials who had studied Qantas' first attempt to take over Air New Zealand insisted that such a merger was not in New Zealand's interests.

"The Minister of Finance, Dr Cullen, is demonstrating the risks of the government owning Air New Zealand. The Minister is putting his interests as a shareholder who is reluctant to invest ahead of the country's interests. There is no doubt that Air New Zealand shareholders would do well out of a monopoly. There is also no doubt that this is at the expense of the travelling public.

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