1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:05,560
Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,

2
00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 1: now it makes sense.

3
00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,320
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,

4
00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:18,439
Speaker 2: the thirty first of July.

5
00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: I'm Zara, I'm emma.

6
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,960
Speaker 2: Another Australian airline is now on the brink of going bust.

7
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:28,720
Speaker 3: Well, we are concerned about Rex. It's an important regional airline.

8
00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,360
Speaker 2: There has to be an opening up of our airspace

9
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:33,839
Speaker 2: so that we can have more than just two airlines

10
00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 2: to choose from.

11
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,080
Speaker 4: The Prime Minister has acknowledged his concerns about the future

12
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,360
Speaker 4: of the airline Rex after it paused trading on the

13
00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,159
Speaker 4: Stock Exchange this week. The airline has also disabled some

14
00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,640
Speaker 4: online bookings. Now, this all comes after budget airline Bonza

15
00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,600
Speaker 4: entered voluntary administration earlier in the year. So is Australia

16
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,480
Speaker 4: about to lose its only airline not owned by Virgin

17
00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,120
Speaker 4: or Quantis. In today's deep dive, we're going to unpack

18
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,240
Speaker 4: what the latest news about Rex means, if the airline

19
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,160
Speaker 4: is really going under, and what it says about how

20
00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:13,720
Speaker 4: the commercial domestic aviation industry is going in Australia. But first, Zara,

21
00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,480
Speaker 4: what's making headlines.

22
00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,960
Speaker 2: National rates of human trafficking and slavery increased by twelve

23
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,400
Speaker 2: percent in the year to July. That's according to the

24
00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,360
Speaker 2: Australian Federal Police. The AFP said it received three hundred

25
00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,959
Speaker 2: and eighty two reports of crimes including people smuggling, forced

26
00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:35,320
Speaker 2: marriage and forced labor in the twenty three to twenty

27
00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:39,800
Speaker 2: four financial year. The AFP's Human Exploitation Commander Helen Schneider

28
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,120
Speaker 2: said the statistics represent innocent lives and said police are

29
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,360
Speaker 2: committed to ending trafficking and slavery.

30
00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 4: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that's DEFAT, has

31
00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,120
Speaker 4: reissued a warning to Australians, urging them not to travel

32
00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,640
Speaker 4: to Lebanon. It comes as tensions between Israel and hesbler

33
00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,600
Speaker 4: escalade after an attack that killed twelve children in the

34
00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:02,440
Speaker 4: Golden Heights.

35
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 1: Israel and the.

36
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,920
Speaker 4: US have accused Hesbela of the strike, which Hezbela denies.

37
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,720
Speaker 4: Defunct's Smart Traveler website warns the security situation could deteriorate rapidly.

38
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,080
Speaker 4: The agency has urged Australians in Lebanon to leave the

39
00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,359
Speaker 4: region quote immediately while commercial flights remain available.

40
00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,800
Speaker 2: Police have arrested a seventeen year old boy in connection

41
00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,160
Speaker 2: to a stabbing attack on England's northwest coast that left

42
00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,560
Speaker 2: two children dead and another nine injured. So alleged the

43
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,200
Speaker 2: teen attacked a group of children at a Taylor Swift

44
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,160
Speaker 2: themed dance event in Southport. Police said several adults were

45
00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,200
Speaker 2: injured trying to protect the children. They've ruled out the

46
00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,000
Speaker 2: incident as being terror related.

47
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,200
Speaker 4: And today's good news, American researchers have made a breakthrough

48
00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 4: discovery that could prevent a global lithium shortage. The chemical

49
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,160
Speaker 4: is found in almost everything from phones and laptops to

50
00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,720
Speaker 4: large scale energy storage systems, but it's fear that with

51
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,720
Speaker 4: a forecasted boom and demand for lithium iine batteries, the

52
00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,000
Speaker 4: chemical could be in short supply. But a team at

53
00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,360
Speaker 4: Rice University in Texas have now found a fast and

54
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:15,079
Speaker 4: environmentally friendly way to extract lithium from battery waste. The

55
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,440
Speaker 4: new method can retrieve as much as fifty percent of

56
00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:23,119
Speaker 4: the lithium in used batteries in as little as thirty seconds.

57
00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,679
Speaker 2: Som earlier this week, we started to hear rumors about

58
00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:30,320
Speaker 2: Rex and I just want to put out there I

59
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,920
Speaker 2: am such a REX loyalist. I am so sad to

60
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,440
Speaker 2: have read headlines that suggests that Rex might be going

61
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,000
Speaker 2: under Yep. I'm actually meant to be flying with them tomorrow.

62
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,560
Speaker 2: Don't know what's meant to happen, don't know if I

63
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:43,960
Speaker 2: should book another flight. But I've got you here to

64
00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,000
Speaker 2: explain everything, So that's okay. Starting at the beginning, can

65
00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 2: you just break down the headlines that people might have

66
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,840
Speaker 2: been seeing and reading and hearing about Rex?

67
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,280
Speaker 4: Yep, and I back the devotion to Rex. I think

68
00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 4: there's probably a lot of people listening who are concerned.

69
00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,680
Speaker 4: Maybe you've pivoted to towards Rex because.

70
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,320
Speaker 2: I've been laid down by other players.

71
00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:05,480
Speaker 4: Because You've been let down by the players, and you

72
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,600
Speaker 4: might have been frustrated with delays, cancelations, etc. We will

73
00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 4: get to all of that, but Zara, I have to

74
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,680
Speaker 4: be honest with you up front. It's not looking great.

75
00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:18,400
Speaker 4: We heard from a range of concerned stakeholders yesterday, including

76
00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,960
Speaker 4: Anthony Albanzi, about the future of Rex. And this all

77
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 4: started on Monday afternoon, so that's when we found out

78
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:30,120
Speaker 4: about an ASX trade pause. That's the Australian Securities Exchange

79
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,360
Speaker 4: and Rex is a publicly listed company on the ASX.

80
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,719
Speaker 4: It announced a temporary freeze on anyone buying or selling

81
00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,400
Speaker 4: its shares. So that announcement was made ahead of markets

82
00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,480
Speaker 4: opening on Tuesday and was set to last two days,

83
00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,880
Speaker 4: so Tuesday and Wednesday. But before it ends, we're expecting

84
00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,040
Speaker 4: to hear from the airline again about the future of Rex,

85
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,520
Speaker 4: and that's when the full scope of its troubles are

86
00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,120
Speaker 4: probably going to become much clearer.

87
00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,280
Speaker 2: Okay, So just to clarify, the first sense that we've

88
00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,520
Speaker 2: got that something was wrong with Rex was that they

89
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,400
Speaker 2: announced a trade pause, which basically just meant no one

90
00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,920
Speaker 2: could buy and sell their shares in Rex at this time,

91
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,560
Speaker 2: and that was an indication to the market and to

92
00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,479
Speaker 2: Australia that something is up. What we don't know, but

93
00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 2: something is up. If we zoom out a bit to

94
00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,520
Speaker 2: understand Rex's place in the sector, what does that look like?

95
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,240
Speaker 4: So for those people who aren't REX loyalists like us,

96
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:31,640
Speaker 4: Rex launched after two regional airlines merged in two thousand

97
00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,159
Speaker 4: and two. Those airlines were called Hazelton and Kendall and

98
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,679
Speaker 4: it became a publicly listed company on the ASX three

99
00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:39,360
Speaker 4: years later.

100
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,400
Speaker 2: That's quite surprising to me. I thought Rex was a

101
00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:43,560
Speaker 2: fairly new company.

102
00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,680
Speaker 4: Yes, so it's a firm player in the domestic aviation space.

103
00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,800
Speaker 4: But it had really carved out this identity around a

104
00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,840
Speaker 4: core belief that quote, the Bush needs and deserves an

105
00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,440
Speaker 4: air service of quality to connect.

106
00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 1: Regional communities and bigger cities.

107
00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,200
Speaker 4: So Rex's ethos as a carrier had always been about

108
00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:08,840
Speaker 4: servicing remote and regional parts of Australia. It's operated as

109
00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,359
Speaker 4: this standalone carrier in you know, really remote parts of

110
00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,840
Speaker 4: the country or operating services that other carriers don't. It

111
00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,960
Speaker 4: did expand in the last couple of years. So in

112
00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,880
Speaker 4: June twenty twenty, Rex announced plans for the airline to

113
00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,880
Speaker 4: expand its domestic routes from March twenty twenty one, and

114
00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,640
Speaker 4: that's when it added a bunch more services, including capital

115
00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 4: city services. Sydney to Melbourne, for example, is the Rex

116
00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:37,920
Speaker 4: route that I think you and I have flown on

117
00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,760
Speaker 4: more recently. And that's around the time when you know,

118
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,200
Speaker 4: people in the cities started paying more attention to REXIT.

119
00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,400
Speaker 4: Really emerged as this reliable player in a post COVID

120
00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:51,680
Speaker 4: setting where as we know a lot of turbulence for

121
00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:56,480
Speaker 4: lack of a better word, has bemoaned the industry cancelations,

122
00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,400
Speaker 4: airfare issues, lost baggage, all the rest of it. Rex

123
00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,600
Speaker 4: has kind of emerged as the underdog and the surprise

124
00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 4: in that market. As I mentioned at the top, it's

125
00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,840
Speaker 4: the only commercial airline here not owned by Quantus or

126
00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,320
Speaker 4: Virgin because Jetstar, the budget airline, is owned by Quantus.

127
00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,960
Speaker 4: And this is a point you're probably going to hear

128
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:20,960
Speaker 4: more and more about with the conversation around you know,

129
00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:25,000
Speaker 4: market competition, dominance, whether or not there is a fair

130
00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:30,320
Speaker 4: and regulated enough sector at play for Australian consumers.

131
00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:32,800
Speaker 2: Well, I mean that does make me think about a

132
00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,720
Speaker 2: conversation that we've already had this year, Like we've already

133
00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,840
Speaker 2: had this conversation, but it was in regards to another airline.

134
00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:42,400
Speaker 2: It was in regards to Bonsa, which launched fairly recently

135
00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,200
Speaker 2: but has already gone under. There seems to be a

136
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:46,800
Speaker 2: conversation that keeps happening.

137
00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:50,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, if this sort of language is sounding familiar, it's

138
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:54,640
Speaker 4: because it is. Rex is not the first casualty of

139
00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,240
Speaker 4: the domestic aviation industry of late. As you mentioned, Bonsa

140
00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:03,560
Speaker 4: went into liquidation. It entered voluntary administration, announced that in April.

141
00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,040
Speaker 4: And for some context about where Bonsa came from It

142
00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,640
Speaker 4: was Australia's first low cost independent airline to launch here

143
00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,240
Speaker 4: in fifteen years Wow when its services began in January

144
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:18,120
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three, but less than a year after launching,

145
00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,240
Speaker 4: it was never really able to compete with Jetstar and

146
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,240
Speaker 4: the others, and it cut a bunch of its services

147
00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,960
Speaker 4: within that first year. Then last month confirmed that over

148
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,680
Speaker 4: three hundred employees' contracts were terminated. It had failed to

149
00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:35,160
Speaker 4: find a buyer to potentially bail out the airline and

150
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,280
Speaker 4: we said farewell to Bonza.

151
00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,480
Speaker 2: And now the same could be true of Rex. Has

152
00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,600
Speaker 2: this news come out of the blue? People that are

153
00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,160
Speaker 2: I guess more keenly watching this sector, have they anticipated

154
00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,040
Speaker 2: that this could happen to Rex as well as BONSA.

155
00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:54,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, so sadly there were some warning signs. We know

156
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,480
Speaker 4: that Rex has been struggling to recover from disruptions caused

157
00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,400
Speaker 4: by the pandemic, and in the twenty twenty two twenty

158
00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,040
Speaker 4: three financial year, Rex reported thirty million dollars in losses.

159
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,680
Speaker 4: Some other early signs of trouble came in September last year,

160
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,840
Speaker 4: when Rex cut a bunch of services. It said that

161
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,880
Speaker 4: they were set to resume in March, but then extended

162
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,440
Speaker 4: that pause on those services till October. So REX hasn't

163
00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,880
Speaker 4: been operating at that full capacity to which it extended

164
00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,720
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty one since September last year. This year,

165
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,319
Speaker 4: its board has undergone major reshuffles. We saw its executive

166
00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,920
Speaker 4: chairman resigned. Several REX directors have also resigned, and that

167
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,400
Speaker 4: brings us to this week when Rex's ASX share price

168
00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,559
Speaker 4: dropped to its lowest value since the start of the pandemic.

169
00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:45,439
Speaker 1: So that's really significant.

170
00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:47,920
Speaker 4: And then on Monday, we of course had the announcement

171
00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 4: of that trade pause that ends today.

172
00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,400
Speaker 2: And what has the response been like to the news

173
00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,640
Speaker 2: You know, I know that around the newsroom we've had

174
00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,800
Speaker 2: very strong reactions, but what's kind of the political or

175
00:09:58,840 --> 00:09:59,880
Speaker 2: commercial response to this.

176
00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, we heard from the PM Anthony Alberanezi yesterday he

177
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,720
Speaker 4: acknowledged his concerns about the future of REX during a

178
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:09,600
Speaker 4: press conference.

179
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,000
Speaker 1: Here's a little bit of what he had to say.

180
00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,640
Speaker 3: REX as a regional airline, of course, provides important links

181
00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:21,319
Speaker 3: with regional communities, is important for those local economies. So

182
00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:26,440
Speaker 3: we want to see the aviation industry in Australia continue

183
00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,720
Speaker 3: to be one that provides that service and that access.

184
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,800
Speaker 2: Now, obviously this has created uncertainty for flyers, and we

185
00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,680
Speaker 2: should know more later today when we hear that announcement.

186
00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,319
Speaker 2: But the other very important part of this is about

187
00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,480
Speaker 2: the workers, the people who work for REX, who operate

188
00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:48,000
Speaker 2: and you fly the planes and everything else. Are we

189
00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:49,559
Speaker 2: expecting job losses?

190
00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,720
Speaker 4: Concern around this exact issue has been floated by the

191
00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,680
Speaker 4: Transport Workers Union. They've been really vocal in the last

192
00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:00,880
Speaker 4: day or two now. That's the union that represents workers

193
00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,240
Speaker 4: in the airline industry, and it's said thousands of workers

194
00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,880
Speaker 4: have been thrown into limbo by this uncertainty surrounding REX.

195
00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:11,040
Speaker 4: It estimates some three thousand jobs could be on the

196
00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,599
Speaker 4: line here if X can't pull through. But the TWU

197
00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,959
Speaker 4: said it would support efforts to save REX. The national

198
00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,800
Speaker 4: secretary of that union, Michael Caine, described REX as quote

199
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:26,720
Speaker 4: another victim of an unregulated industry. So that obviously is

200
00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,679
Speaker 4: referencing what happened to Bonza and more broadly kind of

201
00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:32,560
Speaker 4: the market of domestic aviation.

202
00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,880
Speaker 2: So when we think about some of the responses or

203
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,480
Speaker 2: the solutions to this problem, like what are those solutions?

204
00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,600
Speaker 2: What is available to REX in order to keep them afloat.

205
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:49,240
Speaker 4: To answer that question, we can look to the response

206
00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,800
Speaker 4: for other airlines that have been in trouble in recent

207
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,760
Speaker 4: years and it could kind of go one of two ways. Virgin,

208
00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,200
Speaker 4: Australia's second biggest carrier, faced an entire restructure after the

209
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,640
Speaker 4: airline collapse AAPS at the start of the pandemic. So

210
00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:05,400
Speaker 4: at the very first wobble, Virgin did collapse, but was

211
00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,560
Speaker 4: saved when administrators from Deloitte were tasked with rescuing it.

212
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:11,480
Speaker 4: They got it off the ground, sold it to a

213
00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:15,040
Speaker 4: US investment firm and that saved the airline essentially. So

214
00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,680
Speaker 4: voluntary administration is one kind of path that Rex could

215
00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,960
Speaker 4: go down. Otherwise there could be government intervention and what

216
00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:26,080
Speaker 4: would that look like. You might remember that in the

217
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:30,400
Speaker 4: wake of the early pandemic, the national carrier Quantus, did

218
00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,280
Speaker 4: actually receive this kind of funding, more than two point

219
00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,920
Speaker 4: seven billion dollars in government assistance after it faced uncertainty

220
00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,120
Speaker 4: during the pandemic, and it's famously faced a lot of

221
00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,199
Speaker 4: criticism in the years since Quantus surrounding its market dominance

222
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,040
Speaker 4: given the scale.

223
00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,120
Speaker 1: Of that bailout as it was described.

224
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:53,720
Speaker 4: Anthony Albanesi hasn't ruled out a bailout option for REX,

225
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,240
Speaker 4: where the government would provide it with extra funding to

226
00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:59,720
Speaker 4: keep it afloat. And I think what's really important to

227
00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,720
Speaker 4: bear in mind here is the role that REX plays

228
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:04,280
Speaker 4: as a regional carrier.

229
00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,480
Speaker 2: We're not just talking about like an economic value here.

230
00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,160
Speaker 2: It's also of course that it connects regional and rural

231
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:11,400
Speaker 2: populations with the rest.

232
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,600
Speaker 4: Of Australia exactly, and so I think that makes it

233
00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:19,280
Speaker 4: a unique case and I would suggest that there will

234
00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,760
Speaker 4: be some pretty heavy hitters in government arguing a case

235
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,800
Speaker 4: for saving it on those grounds. In terms of where

236
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,960
Speaker 4: the opposition is on this one, Shadow Transport Minister Bridget

237
00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:33,080
Speaker 4: McKenzie urged the government to quote not allow a repeat

238
00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:34,079
Speaker 4: of BONSA.

239
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,480
Speaker 2: And the thing that I just can't quite get my

240
00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,200
Speaker 2: head around, and I made a joke in the office

241
00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,480
Speaker 2: the other day that the two industries you seemingly don't

242
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:46,280
Speaker 2: want to own a business in Australia are media and aviation.

243
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,240
Speaker 2: Obviously I ignore my own rule for that first one, but

244
00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,079
Speaker 2: it just seems like it's really difficult for anyone that

245
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,000
Speaker 2: is not virgin or quantas to survive in Australia. And

246
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,200
Speaker 2: I mean even then Virgin struggled as well. Yeah, what

247
00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,600
Speaker 2: is the issue here? Why can't they survive?

248
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,400
Speaker 4: So there are a few key reasons. Firstly, the A

249
00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,800
Speaker 4: Triple C broadly attributes a lack of government policy to

250
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:14,240
Speaker 4: support these airlines to boost competition in domestic aviation. So overall,

251
00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:16,680
Speaker 4: they kind of say that there is a blanket need

252
00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,680
Speaker 4: for more regulation to help the little guys.

253
00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,160
Speaker 2: And we're talking there about regulation perhaps that would allow

254
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,320
Speaker 2: for more competitive behavior. If we're talking about the A

255
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,760
Speaker 2: Triple C. They focus on competition. We know that there's

256
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,120
Speaker 2: this duopoly in Australia, so they're saying we need better

257
00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:33,760
Speaker 2: protections for the smaller guys.

258
00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, and one of those protections, or what it describes

259
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,320
Speaker 4: as one of the most effective ways that the government

260
00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,920
Speaker 4: can promote better competition would be to quote help new

261
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:47,400
Speaker 4: and existing airlines to better access takeoff and landing slots

262
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:48,680
Speaker 4: at Sydney Airport.

263
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,280
Speaker 1: Now, check me through this.

264
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,760
Speaker 4: This might sound boring, but it comes up time and

265
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,360
Speaker 4: time again as being really critical to driving competition or

266
00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:00,600
Speaker 4: seeing unfair competition. This is about slot hoarding. Now, that's

267
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,160
Speaker 4: when major airlines book as many arrivals and departure spots

268
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:09,000
Speaker 4: at popular airports as possible to maintain priority runway access.

269
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,160
Speaker 4: So it's kind of about politicking between the airlines and

270
00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,360
Speaker 4: the airports. But the problem with slot hoarding that the

271
00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,080
Speaker 4: A Triple C found and that has been responded to

272
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,240
Speaker 4: by the government with some reforms that we'll get to,

273
00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,960
Speaker 4: is that that removes the opportunity for new players to

274
00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,160
Speaker 4: get runway space during peak times in busy places, so

275
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,560
Speaker 4: you know, a new airline can't then schedule flights to

276
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,560
Speaker 4: in demand places at in demand times. And that there's

277
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:37,560
Speaker 4: also evidence that the A Triple C detailed about the

278
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,680
Speaker 4: bigger airlines using these slots or booking these slots up

279
00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,080
Speaker 4: and then canceling flights, so hoarding them for preserving that

280
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,480
Speaker 4: priority access with no intention of running all of those services.

281
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,360
Speaker 4: So we have seen a little bit of reform here.

282
00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,160
Speaker 4: In February, the government announced plans to improve how slots

283
00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,120
Speaker 4: are managed at Sydney Airport in response to those calls

284
00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,800
Speaker 4: from the A TRIBLEC. This is Sydney Airport, the biggest,

285
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,480
Speaker 4: most busy airport, and the concerns around slot hoarding have

286
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,560
Speaker 4: been echoed within the aviation industry from experts themselves. So

287
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,000
Speaker 4: someone like Professor Ian Douglas. He's from the unsw School

288
00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:16,360
Speaker 4: of Aviation. He's argued that the practice of slot hoarding

289
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,560
Speaker 4: stops smaller airlines like Bonser and Rex from scheduling more flights,

290
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,400
Speaker 4: and he told TDA earlier this year that the practice

291
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:28,160
Speaker 4: has resulted directly in less competition in domestic aviation and

292
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,280
Speaker 4: that that also drives up higher airfares for customers. As

293
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,040
Speaker 4: I mentioned, the A Triple C has broadly called for

294
00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,280
Speaker 4: more regulation in the industry, and some of that involves

295
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:44,040
Speaker 4: facilitating negotiations between airports and airlines. So what we kind

296
00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,520
Speaker 4: of touched on there with the politics between airports and

297
00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,160
Speaker 4: airlines that an imbalance exists at the moment and that

298
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,160
Speaker 4: if the government regulated that space a little bit more,

299
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,040
Speaker 4: it would give smaller airlines and up and comers a

300
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,800
Speaker 4: bit of a leg up. Obviously, those are just some

301
00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,120
Speaker 4: of the issues play when people are talking about concern

302
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,359
Speaker 4: around competition in the domestic aviation space. Back to Rex, though,

303
00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,000
Speaker 4: we will be waiting today for that announcement later on

304
00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,520
Speaker 4: and we will keep you across it on the Daily OS.

305
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:12,960
Speaker 1: So stay tuned.

306
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,240
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode of The

307
00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:18,439
Speaker 2: Daily OS. You might even be listening to us on

308
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,040
Speaker 2: a REX flight right now. Who knows. If you enjoyed

309
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,040
Speaker 2: this episode, make sure you review it on whatever platform

310
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,480
Speaker 2: you're listening on, and if you're watching us on YouTube,

311
00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,879
Speaker 2: hello and hit subscribe. We'll be back again tomorrow, but

312
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,880
Speaker 2: until then, have a great day. My name is Lily

313
00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:38,320
Speaker 2: Madden and I'm a proud Dunda Bungelung Kalkutin woman from

314
00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:39,240
Speaker 2: Gadigol Country.

315
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,200
Speaker 3: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on

316
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,720
Speaker 3: the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to

317
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:49,120
Speaker 3: all Aboriginal and Torres Strait island and nations. We pay

318
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,080
Speaker 3: our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both

319
00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:53,040
Speaker 3: past and present,