And after the Supreme Court of NSW hearing today"
Alan Joyce's speechwriter threatened to 'go guerrilla' if Qantas tried to block book
The long-time speechwriter for Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce warned the airline it would force her to "go guerrilla" if it tried to stop her from writing a tell-all book about her time working there, including the controversial grounding of its fleet in 2011, court documents reveal.
Qantas is seeking to permanently block the publication of the manuscript by Sydney author and speechwriter Lucinda Holdforth because it claims
Fighting Words contains confidential information that would damage the airline.
Ms Holdforth used words to the effect of 'it is either going to come out the easy way or the hard way.
Qantas' lawyers
On Wednesday, a NSW Supreme Court judge extended an interim injunction gained a day earlier preventing her from revealing any contents of her manuscript until the next hearing on July 6.
Court documents reveal emails and details of meetings between Ms Holdforth and Mr Joyce, Qantas' head of corporate affairs and marketing, Olivia Wirth and the airline's senior lawyers.
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Holdforth, who received $164,800 a year as a "writing consultant", had mentioned in passing to Ms Wirth and other Qantas staff about potentially writing a book, and there were suggestions she planned to canvass the events leading up to the grounding in 2011.
"Those references [to a book] appeared to be made in jest, using words to the effect that the events occurring at the time 'would make a great book' or 'would make a great movie'," an affidavit from Qantas' lawyers stated.
While she took periods of leave between late 2011 and early this year to write, it was not until March this year that Holdforth revealed her intentions to proceed with penning a book.
On about March 14, she emailed Mr Joyce and Ms Wirth to advise them she had completed a manuscript, which had been sent to publisher Allen & Unwin.
In the email, she told the pair that her manuscript was "my personal speechwriter's take on the story of 2011 and the lead-up to – and aftermath of – the lock-out and grounding".
"It is fundamentally a study of your leadership Alan, and of Olivia's exhilarating command of the communications strategy during one of Australia's biggest corporate crises," Holdforth wrote in the email.
After that email, Ms Wirth met Holdforth a number of times to gain a copy of the manuscript and talk to her about whether it could be published in its present form.
In 2011, Holdforth had attended secret meetings with senior Qantas staff in the lead up to the infamous grounding, and wrote Mr Joyce's speech on the day he announced his decision to take the unprecedented action to break an industrial dispute.
After reading the manuscript, Ms Wirth formed the view that it "contained information concerning the business, operations and affairs of Qantas that is confidential" to the airline.
Holdforth later met Qantas's deputy general counsel, Wes Nobelius, at a cafe in Sydney's Surry Hills on June 18 to talk about the manuscript, whereby Holdforth stated "several times that 'this [manuscript] is going to be on the public domain' or words to that effect".
"Ms Holdforth used words to the effect of 'it is either going to come out the easy way or the hard way. Qantas is forcing me to go guerrilla but you know, I would do it'," the affidavit from Qantas' lawyers stated.
Shortly after that meeting, Holdforth sent an email to Ms Wirth and Mr Nobelius that she intended to publish the manuscript "irrespective and in breach of any cease-and-desist letter she receives [from Qantas]".
In extending the interim injunction on Wednesday, NSW Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin urged Qantas and Holdforth to enter mediation to avoid a legal battle that would fracture their relationship beyond repair.
Queensland University Press has offered Holdforth a contract for her book but it is yet to be signed.
Holdforth was also the speechwriter for Mr Joyce's predecessor, Geoff Dixon, and former Qantas chairman Margaret Jackson. She also wrote speeches for former Labor leader Kim Beazley when he was finance minister in the Keating government in the 1990s.
She is also the author of two other non-fiction books