Queries put Dunne in airlines' jetwash

By VERNON SMALL

United Future leader Peter Dunne sparked an angry standoff with Air New Zealand and Qantas when he questioned why different versions of the airline deal were being sold in Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Dunne's claims led to a row on Thursday with Air New Zealand chairman John Palmer.

"All this toing and froing and confusion over what the real story is, resulted in an extraordinary scene when an angry John Palmer ... arrived unannounced in my office ... berated me for an hour demanding all sorts of retractions and then left," Mr Dunne said.

Mr Dunne had questioned why Qantas was telling Australian analysts it would always have the upper hand, because it would have two directors on the Air NZ board.

Mr Palmer said the airline was "very concerned about some statements that Peter Dunne had made publicly that were blatantly untrue".

They included claims Qantas directors would have veto power.

Mr Dunne has also called on Australian Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson to clarify his reported claim that it was "in Australia's interest to make sure many international airlines disappear over the next few years".

Mr Anderson's press officer has called Mr Dunne to deny the report.

But Mr Dunne said a transcript of the interview supported the radio reports, so he was still waiting for a denial from Mr Anderson himself.

Mr Dunne had also thrown doubt on where a promised 200 extra jobs in New Zealand would come from if Mr Anderson was right to claim Qantas would not export any jobs.

In a statement late yesterday, Air NZ chief executive Ralph Norris said Qantas directors would not have veto powers.

He said the extra jobs would be mainly in engineering from Qantas' policy of placing 20 per cent of its heavy engineering maintenance work overseas. Air NZ would undertake 15 per cent of that 20 per cent, rather than the fraction it had now.

Mr Dunne said he accepted the explanation on jobs, "but had that been available initially it would have avoided a lot of the confusion".

It was "rather trite" of Air NZ to criticise him when it had not provided the information upfront. He still thought the deal was bad for New Zealand.

The Government will announce on December 18 its interim decision on the deal, whereby Qantas would take 22.5 per cent of Air NZ for $550 million.