STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF FEDERAL LABOR TEAM VICTORIA:

Richard Marles MP, Catherine King MP, Bill Shorten MP, Brendan O’Connor MP, Mark Dreyfus MP, Clare O’Neil MP, Andrew Giles MP, Ged Kearney MP, Senator Kimberley Kitching, Tim Watts MP, Maria Vamvakinou MP, Rob Mitchell MP, Daniel Mulino MP, Libby Coker MP, Josh Burns MP, Anthony Byrne MP, Senator Kim Carr, Lisa Chesters MP, Senator Raff Ciccone, Julian Hill MP, Peter Khalil MP, Peta Murphy MP, Joanne Ryan MP, Kate Thwaites MP, Senator Jess Walsh

Federal Labor’s Team Victoria is calling on our Liberal and National counterparts to pick up the phone to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and save Virgin Airlines.

Scott Morrison must urgently extend a lifeline to Virgin Australia, through extending or guaranteeing lines of credit and taking an equity stake.

Virgin directly supports almost 3,000 Victorian workers and our state depends on the competition and increased flights Virgin provides.

Twenty one of Victoria’s federal politicians are members of the Morrison Government. It’s time they stepped up for our state, our workers and our economy.

If Victoria’s federal Liberal and National politicians do not step up and save Virgin, they are making an active decision to see one of our major airlines fail.

All Victorians will pay the price with higher airfares and fewer services, and 3,000 jobs will go overnight.

Our aviation industry has been brought to its knees by necessary travel restrictions imposed by governments to limit the spread of this disease.

The insistence on relying on private sector investment gives Victorians no guarantees around jobs or services.

The Morrison Government must take an equity stake in Virgin to temporarily support the airline through this crisis before the industry bounces back - and it will - when the Government can recoup its investment.

Giving up on Victoria’s aviation workers is not an option for Labor.