Former Labor minister Stephen Conroy says he can’t believe “Singapore airlines is absolutely gagging” to absorb Virgin Australia as it should be “absolutely putting its cheque book on the table”.
Mr Conroy said purchasing Virgin would give Singapore access to the “most lucrative route in the world” the Australian east coast to the American west coast.
It would also be able to use its newly acquired domestic carrier to “funnel Australians into its main Singapore Airlines fleet going through Singapore,” he said.
Sky News contributor Cory Bernardi said there is no way the government should “be bailing out some of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds or some of the richest individuals in the world”.
Virgin Australia’s board placed the airline into administration after the government rejected a final hour plea for a grant to keep the airline afloat for an extra couple of weeks.
The government have remained firm on its stance to not bail out the company, hoping a private entity will rescue the airline instead.
Mr Bernardi told Sky News host Paul Murray the Australian government might be able to invest a “few billion dollars” which would mean it could “end up virtually owning it and carrying it through until it could be sold”.
“Cory Bernardi just nationalised an airline live on air,” Mr Conroy said.
Image: AP
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