For what it's worth, a copy of the letter I sent to:
[email protected]
Dear Ms Gillard
Just a quick email to explain my situation and express some concern at the Jetstar plan to unnecessarily recruit overseas pilots.
I am an Australian pilot, living and working overseas since 1991.
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As a result of the then oversupply of pilots (exacerbated by the collapse of Ansett), airline bosses took the opportunity to aggressively suppress and actually cut employment terms and conditions for pilots. Whilst that may have been their prerogative as profit-oriented individuals, as the current ‘predicament’ attests, it was shortsighted. It is a direct consequence of this action (that made the return on the investment of training to become a pilot unviable) that regional airlines are now faced with a pilot shortage – and the airline managers have the audacity to complain about it! The likes of Qantas/Jetstar and Virgin still have many Australian pilots available to them.
The airline manager’s statements that they need to employ foreign pilots to remedy the situation is nonsense.
The reality is that this foreign recruitment drive is simply a further attempt to suppress the salaries of Australian pilots. Jetstar’s Alan Joyce talks about being in a global market, but if the airline were paying globally competitive salaries, Australian pilots would remain in the country rather than leaving in droves as they now do for the likes of Emirates and Cathay Pacific.
Additionally, there is a reason that Australian airlines have historically been amongst the world’s safest and that is due categorically to the extensive (and expensive) training that is mandated by CASA at all levels in the industry. I have flown for many years overseas with pilots from all nations and I can confirm (without being xenophobic) that the standard of initial and recurrent aircrew training that CASA regulation demands is superior to all. By attempting to employ non-Australian trained aircrew, Jetstar will effectively bypass this critical safety valve.
In my own case, I am an Australian citizen, possess more than the maximum qualifications suggested for Jetstar employment (I am a Captain with thousands of hours on the very aircraft Jetstar fly) but having applied online many months ago have failed to receive even a reply. I am not alone in being in this situation.
On a global basis, the Jetstar package is poor but I am potentially prepared to sacrifice financial rewards in order to have my children live back in the country of their birth and to be near their relatives. Having spoken personally to some of the South African pilots involved in the Jetstar 457 work visa situation, they are appalled at the low salaries Jetstar are paying and are planning only to temporarily work for the airline in order to obtain Australian residency.
In summary, I believe that airline managers are manipulatively creating a smokescreen with their cries of a pilot shortage and therefore ‘being forced’ to employ pilots from overseas. They are trying to hoodwink government authorities into allowing them to employ non-Australian pilots when in fact there are many Australian pilots prepared to work for these operators, particularly if they pay globally competitive salaries.
In your capacity as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, could I implore you to deflect the misleading claims of the airlines in their attempt to gain 457 work visas for non-Australian pilots and instead revamp their terms and conditions of employment to retain qualified Australian pilots, of which there are thousands.
Thank you for you time.
A. Le Rhone
Could I suggest that all of us similarly write to Evans and Gillard. It takes 5 minutes and can't hurt.