TRANSCRIPT: SUNRISE INTERVIEW WITH DAVID KOCH, 22 April 2020

E&OE

Subjects: Virgin Australia, coronavirus;

DAVID KOCH

Multiple potential buyers are circling after the carrier entered voluntary administration. The interest has been welcomed by the Prime Minister with Scott Morrison describing the process as a road out and forward into the future for the company. But unions are imploring the Government to rescue the business by acquiring a stake in the airline. They argue that a collapse would cost taxpayers $800 million and up to 16,000 jobs.

Joining me now is Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, thank you for joining us.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK 

Good morning. Pleasure.

DAVID KOCH 

By the sound of it, you are letting the administrators do all the hard work, restructuring the airline, then look at helping them out after.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK 

What we are doing is we’re making sure there is a flightpath forward. There is a future for Virgin, there is a future for the company, a future for those 10,000 workers and 6,000 suppliers. That is why it is important that the company has entered voluntary administration. This is a courageous and brave step by the company, but a necessary one. We will have Nicholas Moore representing the Government working with Deloitte to figure out the best way forward for Virgin.

DAVID KOCH 

Yes, so Nicholas Moore, ex-boss of Macquarie Bank, he is the one who basically helped privatise Sydney Airport and got involved there. His appointment is significant. It means that the Government wants a look under the bonnet, if you like, to see if there is a role for them to play.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK 

Well indeed, we need to have a look at the books and certainly Deloitte will be doing that. They will be reporting to Virgin, to the board. Paul Scurrah, the CEO has said this is the way forward. He has said there is a future for Virgin. We want a commercially viable second airline in Australia. It is so important. Not just for those capital cities but also those regional routes and Virgin has provided that. Yes, they came into COVID-19 saddled with debt. It has been a situation that has not just been harmful to Virgin, but the entire aviation industry. We understand that, that’s why we’ve put $1.28 billion of assistance into aviation and the $130 billion JobKeeper initiative.

DAVID KOCH 

And also, are you concerned for Virgin workers? At the moment, no workers will be retrenched from Virgin and everybody's frequent flyer points will be saved as well?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK 

Yes, those frequent flyer points will be paused. Virgin has said that. It is a separate arm to the business. Those jobs are important. Those workers are important. That is why we have the JobKeeper in place. That’s why we have the JobSeeker packages in place. We want to see as many, if not all of those Virgin employees, coming out the other side and a viable second airline for Australia. It’s so important Kochie.

DAVID KOCH 

Yes, we don’t want to stuff it up like Ansett. Thank you for joining us.

Shane Manning