Treasurer Joe Hockey says taxpayers may have to subsidise Qantas Qantas may have to allow more foreign ownership, Treasurer Joe Hockey has warned. Treasurer Joe Hockey. TREASURER Joe Hockey has delivered a blunt warning that taxpayers may have to subsidise Qantas to keep it profitable, or allow it to be owned by a foreign government. Mr Hockey's grim scenario came as he called for a public debate on the future of the airline and whether taxpayers wanted to have a national carrier. The Treasurer said if foreign ownership rules were relaxed for Qantas "it's most likely it would be owned by other governments." He said this could have far-reaching consequences for the tourism industry, wine sales, regional areas and jobs. But he also said Qantas legitimately complained that ownership "handcuffs" made it hard to compete against Virgin Australia, which was part-owned by three airlines that in turn were owned by their governments. Mr Hockey told 3AW that when Qantas was privatised in 1992 and foreign ownership rules were put in place, the airline was the 800-pound gorilla in the marketplace, but times have changed and it was fighting for survival and faced a "very significant loss." "We've seen the emergence of these massive Middle Eastern airlines - Etihad and Emirates - and we're going to see the Chinese airlines that are going to be even larger than those come into play," he said. Unquestionably their growth is impeded in part by the restrictions the Parliament has placed on their share registry. The rules restrict foreign ownership to 49 per cent, with total airline ownership of 35 per cent and no single foreigner owning more than 25 per cent. Mr Hockey said the nation needed to decide which way to jump. "If Australians understandably say no, it should remain not only Australian-owned but Australian controlled and we need to have a national carrier - and I think there are many good reasons for that as well, - then we've got to accept that we may have to pay a price for that, that's a burden the taxpayers may have to pick up," he said. Mr Hockey said Qantas spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year marketing Australia to the rest of the world, and the government might have to put more money into tourism to fill the hole. He said it was the biggest individual buyer of Australian wine and promoted it to the world. Do we have to provide subsidies to the wine industry? He questioned what the future would be for non-profitable routes and jobs. Australia needs to decide if it is prepared to pay a taxpayer price for owning a national carrier. That's what every other government in the world has done. The New Zealand Government had to step in to bail out Air New Zealand a few years ago. Australian and International Pilots Association president Nathan Safe welcomed the call for a national conversation about the Qantas Sale Act but said it should look at improving Qantas' Australian operations. Mr Safe said Australia did need its own airline. "A national airline is vital national infrastructure supplying the economy with quality jobs, skills and security options," he said.