How Would YOU Run QF?

[f1yhigh]

As the title says, you have now been appointed as the new QF CEO, what would you do for the short term and for the long term?

Making this thread just to get an idea of the direction people want QF to head in etc

[Ollie Onion]

Cut 15% of operating costs, tell the staff that there is a payfreeze due to the world economy, preside over a big profit and award myself $23 million in pay. I would then leave and live out my years somewhere quiet :-)

[Maggie Island]

Purge the corporate ranks, if VA can cut 750 staff at the drop of a hat I bet theres a lot more on QFs corporate welfare.

[dragon man]

Get the front line staff off side, treat the customers like crap with an outdated product, devalue their loyalty points, not replace the ageing fleet then pay myself $85 million while I have accomplished this.

[Blueskymine]

I’d turn it into a democratic company.

The board is selected by peers from each division of the company. The CEO is elected for a fixed term in a similar manner.

The CEO isn’t elected by the popular vote, else you’d have someone from the most populous division constantly winning. It’d be a similar system to the College vote in America. You’d have to win the most divisions in the company.

Upon appointment to the company. You’re issued shares. Every year of service you’re issued more shares as a bonus with company results.

Eventually the airline will be owned by the real stake holders. The employees.

[pilotchute]

I would buy a copy of "How to run an airline for dummies" and read it. Then do what it says.

[Rated De]

I would buy a copy of "How to run an airline for dummies" and read it. Then do what it says.

There are shining examples of airline management and the books too.
Perhaps the simplest and most eloquent, was penned by the late Herb Kelleher. A real gentleman.

“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.” – Herb Kelleher

[Global Aviator]

That’s a no brainer...

A350XWBLRER to Red Q

Jetstar HKG to get the Max’s

Project Tequila sunrise launch direct flights to Ibiza.....

:)

All cadets from the new schools to be LHS within 5 years on a fantastic new E scale..... vis a vis Red Q...

[Savage175]

George Costanza from Seinfeld probably has the best idea. Just take everything Joyce does, and do the exact opposite.

[Car RAMROD]

I would do everything that everyone on PPrune says we should do!
Everyone there are the real experts.

[PlasticFantastic]

I'd focus on maximising QF's comparative advantages, which I see as:

dominant position domestically
unique geography, that means QF can build a sizeable LH/ULH fleet
customer loyalty for their international operations, driven by their strength domestically and QFF, and
ability to focus QF on the premium market, because JQ is strong enough to cover the LCC market domestically and on short haul regional flights.

Based on that, I'd:

keep pursuing Project Sunrise, to launch unique ULH routes that have no direct competition, command a yield premium, and build premium customer loyalty (ie loyalty among customers who are willing to pay for non-stop flights, who will often tend to also be premium customers for other flights)
buy more small widebodies (789/NMA) for more competitive routes (LAX, YVR, Asia etc) to allow QF to capture premium traffic on routes like SIN/HKG/HND while also opening up more direct routes that bypass hubs
pick up the NMA and/or 321XLR/LR to do the same out of ADL and PER (and maybe CBR and OOL in the future)
keep expanding into premium leisure routes
invest in lounges, greater availability of reward seats, and other things to increase customer loyalty
hold off starting replacing the domestic fleet til the early/mid 2020s - they don't need a fleet advantage there, or any radical change in business plan
and, bluntly, keep working on reducing costs on all fronts - head office, suppliers and staff - because this kind of strategy naturally results in higher CASK than packing A35Ks full through hubs, and only works if the RASK increase exceeds the CASK increase.

[Going Boeing]

The first three things that I would do is:

Stop all subsidies of JQ Intl,

Make QF Frequent Flyer pay a fair market price for redeemed seats, &

Re-write all the KPI's throughout management and staff to ensure that decisions are made for the long term viability of the company, and, FOR THE WELFARE OF THE PASSENGERS.

[mrdeux]

Sack everyone in HR. That should reduce the corporate ranks back to reasonable levels.

[morno]

The first three things that I would do is:

Stop all subsidies of JQ Intl,

Make QF Frequent Flyer pay a fair market price for redeemed seats, &

Re-write all the KPI's throughout management and staff to ensure that decisions are made for the long term viability of the company, and, FOR THE WELFARE OF THE PASSENGERS.

Where’s the proof of subsidies for JQ Int’l?

For crying out loud, you’re all one group. Why not think about the GROUP instead of just QF. What’s to say that QF operating some of the international flights that JQ does would be profitable?

[Paragraph377]

I would probably start by doing the following;

Report OTP honestly and truthfully; no more sneaky tricks, fudging figures, manipulating numbers and delay codes and creative reporting.

Implement full financial transparency; completely seperate QF and JQ on the books. No more creative accounting, cross pollination of maintenance, fuel, freight and catering costs when it suits them.

Full transparency and methodology to be produced showing Qantas fare price broken down by cost code. In other words, exactly what value of dollars are actually spent per ticket, on labor, fuel, airport fees, parts, etc.

Make all Executives disclose any conflict of interest which includes, but not limited to; themselves and family members who have vested interests in catering companies, ground handlers, uniform, suppliers, stationary suppliers, consultancy firms, accounting agencies, ANYTHING related to any direct, indirect, or third party provider/supplier to the airline. In other words folks, if you think these airline Execs only benefit from obscene salaries and bonuses, you need to wake up.

Full disclosure of HR methodology when it comes to employing or promoting people into certain positions. What was the process followed, who was involved, all evidence to be provided to an independent reviewer. No more jobs for the boys, mates rates, he has a cute ass so let’s hire him BS.

Implementing a robust strategy of restoring quality to the airline, a robust safety reputation, a reputable business class service, a reinvigorated Qantas Club which excludes dead****’s and bogans, and where possible a return to the Australian version of Qantas from around 2002.

[Going Boeing]

Morno, I am confident that my information that I shared about JQ Intl subsidies on other threads is accurate. If I posted hard info, Napoleon would have me facing 5 QC’s in a Law Court (yes, he paid for 5 of them to take on AIPA following his airline shutdown) & I obviously can’t afford that.

I do have a Group focus but the way the books are cooked to make the QF Frequent Flyer program & JQ Intl look good is not in the best interests of the Group or its shareholders.

[morno]

Morno, I am confident that my information that I shared about JQ Intl subsidies on other threads is accurate. If I posted hard info, Napoleon would have me facing 5 QC’s in a Law Court (yes, he paid for 5 of them to take on AIPA following his airline shutdown) & I obviously can’t afford that.

I do have a Group focus but the way the books are cooked to make the QF Frequent Flyer program & JQ Intl look good is not in the best interests of the Group or its shareholders.

So you have no proof? :hmm:

[Chris2303]

Sell it to Air NZ

[Rated De]

1. Corporate Governance. Low threshold materiality audit, if need be internal to actually see who pays for what. Such an audit, internal if need be, would actually see which invoices are paid for whom and at what price the entity responsible has to pay for them.
2. Re-Work (as GB) suggested incentive structures. Perhaps with a ten year caveat.
3. Immediately replace CEO. The business needs a circuit breaker. The new CEO would, like Gordon Bethune and Rob Fyfe need to be consistent.Average CEO tenure is less than five years.
4. Actually dare to leave Fort Fumble. Mandate senior management work in areas of business outside Corporate. Pick the area, call centres, baggage, catering flight planning... Rob Fyfe did it.
4a. Board Clean out.

These steps will change culture.
5. Disengage the adversarial engagement model so wed to the past and Ian Oldmeadow.
6. Stop HR Mission Creep.

At this point the business has really not expended much capital, these changes are cultural, although it is conceded they take time to be effective. As staff at Continental in the Lorenzo era demonstrate, trust takes time to be earned.

7. Fleet strategy
This is where airline experienced people are needed. Presently fleet strategy is dictated by spreadsheet, telling only part the story.
The singles biggest improvement to fuel included CASK is fleet.

[Rated De]

So you have no proof? :hmm:


JQ has a role. The expansion into longer stage length International means that any effective unit cost advantage is rapidly eroded. Add in the inability, due elastic demand to drive revenue growth and the International business cannot generate margin.

Morno, you may recall December 2013, Little Napoleon asking for $3billion AUD worth of taxpayer assistance, only to recant six weeks later?
The reason why Little Napoleon recanted was that Canberra asked them to conduct an audit similar on scope and style to point 1 above (# 20)...Qantas declined.
Interestingly, after a "confronting loss" in FY15, the business was "transformed" the very next year. The loss itself was largely a result of an impairment to the International Fleet (fleet write down). A paper not trading loss.

The "subsidiary" in Singapore is a curious business, Its source of profit isn't selling seats, rather it leases aircraft back to Jetstar. A curious arrangement.

Ever wonder why Jetstar Asia is reported in the Jetstar Group?
Much the same reason that Jetstar international is.

[troppo]

P2F. Funds into a swiss bank account. 500 fresh CPLs a year into mainline at $100k each. The company can wear training costs. Once they have time on type I'm gonna pimp them out and sell them to airlines in China for another $100k each.
I'd only need a year to be the highest paid airline CEO.
Get rich quick or die trying.

[TBM-Legend]

So what's the name of the new Australian airline that the PPRUNE aviation experts are going to start with their own capital and management?

[cattletruck]

First I'd give myself a huge pay rise that is bigger than that previous idiot.
Then I'd get rid of all those bum feelers and surround myself with my own mates.
Then I'd upgrade the corporate lounges with marble, gilded gold leaf, water fountains, 5 star food, and give free membership to high society and the influential.
Then I'd increase the work loads, cut everyone else's wages and give the rust buckets a new lick of paint.
Then I'd stop paying the airports for services.
Then after a few years of this I'd go ask the government for bail out money.
Then I'd repeat it all again.

[fdr]

QFA does more right than wrong. Don't have to like the individual in charge, that isn't what he is being paid for, he is working for the investors and thats about the end of that. QF competes in a global market which is mainly at a disadvantage from AUS cost base on staffing and local infrastructure costs. Given that, it is hard to blame the one that is low on xmas gift list for taking action to reduce costs. For all that, QFA has a very high cost base, yet still makes a profit. So, why would anyone want to change the game? Anyone else going into the hot seat is going to be as agressive or more so in cost control than the current incumbent. Beware what you wish for,

[gordonfvckingramsay]

Cost cutting has created such inefficiencies that it’s all getting expensive, or about to.

•Ageing fleet maintained via deferral.
•Engineering on demand-aircraft go late because you wait for an engineer to finish up on another aircraft.
•Late aircraft miss slots, hold, passengers miss connections, and faith.
•Outsourced staff treated like sh!t do a half arsed job, your product is sh!t and it shows.
•No one does anything extra, like they used, to as it will go unnoticed and ar$ehole managers are already working day and night finding new ways of exploiting staff.
•Memos telling staff how valued they are only serve to anger staff who are clearly NOT seen as an asset and rather a commodity.
• Safety suffers and eventually the aggregate of poorly kept aircraft, contractors doing a bad job, angry and demoralised staff who are just plain buggered and a CEO who will publicly trash all your years of hard work.......all adds up to the inevitable accident.
• Finally, your only stock in trade (we haven’t crashed one) has evaporated.

How would I run QF?

•Sack the board and reintroduce people who actually know the business.
•Absorb the outsourced parts, back into the airline.
•Shift my focus from destroying my workforce to promoting them.
•Cut exec salaries to something more in line with the norm.
•Lead from the front, inspire staff to follow.
•Get out more and understand the business at the ground level, not just the board level.
•Stop the spin and the facade bullish!t, no one believes it.
•Give Australia an airline to be proud of again.

Its not hard, you just need to take the corporate blinkers off, have some decency and a lot of humility, none of which we’ve seen for a very long time.

[Rated De]

QFA does more right than wrong. Don't have to like the individual in charge, that isn't what he is being paid for, he is working for the investors and thats about the end of that. QF competes in a global market which is mainly at a disadvantage from AUS cost base on staffing and local infrastructure costs. Given that, it is hard to blame the one that is low on xmas gift list for taking action to reduce costs. For all that, QFA has a very high cost base, yet still makes a profit. So, why would anyone want to change the game? Anyone else going into the hot seat is going to be as agressive or more so in cost control than the current incumbent. Beware what you wish for,

To what costs do you refer?

Would that be fuel costs, for your assertion is correct. They have a very high fuel cost base per ASK.
With respect to the other costs, being denominated in AUD has been claimed both an advantage and a disadvantage.
They do have high back office headcount relative to other airlines.
So were the replacement to remove excess non-operational headcount then that might help the cost base.

As of 24th July 2019, number 15 on the list of biggest shareholders was Alan Joyce, so yes self evidently, he works for the investors (shareholders), most of the rest of which are nominee companies of foreign entities.

[Rated De]

Cost cutting has created such inefficiencies that it’s all getting expensive, or about to.

•Ageing fleet maintained via deferral.
•Engineering on demand-aircraft go late because you wait for an engineer to finish up on another aircraft.
•Late aircraft miss slots, hold, passengers miss connections, and faith.
•Outsourced staff treated like sh!t do a half arsed job, your product is sh!t and it shows.
•No one does anything extra, like they used, to as it will go unnoticed and ar$ehole managers are already working day and night finding new ways of exploiting staff.
•Memos telling staff how valued they are only serve to anger staff who are clearly NOT seen as an asset and rather a commodity.
• Safety suffers and eventually the aggregate of poorly kept aircraft, contractors doing a bad job, angry and demoralised staff who are just plain buggered and a CEO who will publicly trash all your years of hard work.......all adds up to the inevitable accident.
• Finally, your only stock in trade (we haven’t crashed one) has evaporated.

How would I run QF?

•Sack the board and reintroduce people who actually know the business.
•Absorb the outsourced parts, back into the airline.
•Shift my focus from destroying my workforce to promoting them.
•Cut exec salaries to something more in line with the norm.
•Lead from the front, inspire staff to follow.
•Get out more and understand the business at the ground level, not just the board level.
•Stop the spin and the facade bullish!t, no one believes it.
•Give Australia an airline to be proud of again.

Its not hard, you just need to take the corporate blinkers off, have some decency and a lot of humility, none of which we’ve seen for a very long time.






None of which are possible, for the current emperor (just to clarify Gordon!)... The only leading from the front with the incumbent is observed when one ignores his close personal protection team.



The aging fleet is the key metric.
Deferring CAP EX, buying back shares for short term EPS and ASX improvements comes at the long term cost as Roger Montgomery correctly stated, they need to spend AUD $1.7 billion a year just to keep the fleet age where it is.

[gordonfvckingramsay]

Why not possible? There are examples of exactly that elsewhere in the world.

[Global Aviator]

So what's the name of the new Australian airline that the PPRUNE aviation experts are going to start with their own capital and management?

ANSETT MKIII

[Scooter Rassmussin]

Start with group seniority , it’s totally unfair that QF pilots earn so much compared to the rest of the group.
The opportunity should be available to all .

[Street garbage]

Start with group seniority , it’s totally unfair that QF pilots earn so much compared to the rest of the group.
The opportunity should be available to all .
Have you applied to Mainline as a start?

[Street garbage]

Cost cutting has created such inefficiencies that it’s all getting expensive, or about to.

•Ageing fleet maintained via deferral.
•Engineering on demand-aircraft go late because you wait for an engineer to finish up on another aircraft.
•Late aircraft miss slots, hold, passengers miss connections, and faith.
•Outsourced staff treated like sh!t do a half arsed job, your product is sh!t and it shows.
•No one does anything extra, like they used, to as it will go unnoticed and ar$ehole managers are already working day and night finding new ways of exploiting staff.
•Memos telling staff how valued they are only serve to anger staff who are clearly NOT seen as an asset and rather a commodity.
• Safety suffers and eventually the aggregate of poorly kept aircraft, contractors doing a bad job, angry and demoralised staff who are just plain buggered and a CEO who will publicly trash all your years of hard work.......all adds up to the inevitable accident.
• Finally, your only stock in trade (we haven’t crashed one) has evaporated.

How would I run QF?

•Sack the board and reintroduce people who actually know the business.
•Absorb the outsourced parts, back into the airline.
•Shift my focus from destroying my workforce to promoting them.
•Cut exec salaries to something more in line with the norm.
•Lead from the front, inspire staff to follow.
•Get out more and understand the business at the ground level, not just the board level.
•Stop the spin and the facade bullish!t, no one believes it.
•Give Australia an airline to be proud of again.

Its not hard, you just need to take the corporate blinkers off, have some decency and a lot of humility, none of which we’ve seen for a very long time.

Says it all really, QF needs LEADERSHIP.

[Rated De]

As the title says, you have now been appointed as the new QF CEO, what would you do for the short term and for the long term?

Making this thread just to get an idea of the direction people want QF to head in etc

Got to ask is that you Alan?

Naturally, astute readers will realise of course it can't be him.
After all he decided all by himself to ground the airline on a Saturday afternoon in October 2011.

A content analysis of his years at the helm of fort Fumble shows a solitary reference to being wrong.
That mea culpa an acknowledgement that non-assigned seating at Jetstar was a bad idea...Not even when CEO of Qantas...

[Street garbage]

Got to ask is that you Alan?

Naturally, astute readers will realise of course it can't be him.
After all he decided all by himself to ground the airline on a Saturday afternoon in October 2011.

A content analysis of his years at the helm of fort Fumble shows a solitary reference to being wrong.
That mea culpa an acknowledgement that non-assigned seating at Jetstar was a bad idea...Not even when CEO of Qantas...

If Alan want's anyone's advice, he'll give it to them..just ask Webster, Strambi etc

[gordonfvckingramsay]

Imagine where QF would be if stopped de-incentivising his staff.

https://amp.independent.ie/business/irish/irishborn-qantas-ceo-alan-joyce-defends-14m-salary-shareholders-want-me-to-be-incentivised-38512210.html

[Ascend Charlie]

What would we call our airline?

ProonAir
JetStarBlast

Remove Little Lombard (Lots Of Money But A Real D1ckh3ad) from the CEO and re-instate Slasher

[Global Aviator]

Why fix something that’s not broken?

:)

https://investor.qantas.com/investors/?page=historical-share-price

[fdr]

To what costs do you refer?

Would that be fuel costs, for your assertion is correct. They have a very high fuel cost base per ASK.
With respect to the other costs, being denominated in AUD has been claimed both an advantage and a disadvantage.
They do have high back office headcount relative to other airlines.
So were the replacement to remove excess non-operational headcount then that might help the cost base.

As of 24th July 2019, number 15 on the list of biggest shareholders was Alan Joyce, so yes self evidently, he works for the investors (shareholders), most of the rest of which are nominee companies of foreign entities.

Fuel costs for QFA last time I looked ran around 24% of total costs. Personnel costs are considerable, and get the arbitrage treatment. Maintenance, arbitrage. aircraft asset, lease for tax benefits and to improve short term cashflows. Catering, brown bag service.

Every aspect of cost saving comes with consequences, saving on staffing through increasing productivity impacts schedule reliability, and complicates training demands for equipment changes or expansion. outsourcing alters the public perception and can either improve or detract from the process. Calling QF helpline and getting Dave from AT&T in Mumbai has a limited charm. multiple parallel staffing structures have increased administrative overhead and cause friction that can affect the product delivery. Maintenance outsourcing has its merits, and also issues, the need to put QA on the job, and the amount of rework diminishes the gains. You tend to get what you pay for. Asset management is well established, most airlines are in the same boat there.

Southwest had a concept that worked well for them for a long time, use a single type and gain efficiency from that, and keep the team happy, so the pax are happy, and give a fair return to the investors. That was OK, up to the Max, and that now is being reviewed.

CEO's beyond founders often end up with shares in the company they are managing, as part of their remuneration package etc. It may seem like a conflict of interest, and indeed for short term decisions it obviously is, it is the ultimate insider trading, however, the CEO otherwise has the same personal interest as the investors other than for a short term gain. Nothing in the gnomes history has been short term, and he is smart enough to never benefit from a short term gain that is attributable to knowledge arising from his post. Of course, all things are possible in this universe.

[f1yhigh]

Got to ask is that you Alan?

Naturally, astute readers will realise of course it can't be him.
After all he decided all by himself to ground the airline on a Saturday afternoon in October 2011.

A content analysis of his years at the helm of fort Fumble shows a solitary reference to being wrong.
That mea culpa an acknowledgement that non-assigned seating at Jetstar was a bad idea...Not even when CEO of Qantas...

If I was Alan, the company would be better than it currently is. That says a lot.

[Capn Rex Havoc]

Get rid of the unions.
Factor the block hours.
Work 1100 hours per year.
Compress rosters after leave is taken.
Fly ULRs with 3 crew.
Have 24hrs off after crossing 10 time zones.

.... that's how a certain Middle East airline does it...

[Blueskymine]

Get rid of the unions.
Factor the block hours.
Work 1100 hours per year.
Compress rosters after leave is taken.
Fly ULRs with 3 crew.
Have 24hrs off after crossing 10 time zones.

.... that's how a certain Middle East airline does it...

Theres a difference though. People go to the Middle East to work and build a nest egg. They go there expecting to put in a pound of flesh, but it will set themselves up later.

People come/stay in Australia to live.

I love my flying, but I love being home and living more.

[Rated De]

Theres a difference though. People go to the Middle East to work and build a nest egg. They go there expecting to put in a pound of flesh, but it will set themselves up later.

People come/stay in Australia to live.

I love my flying, but I love being home and living more.

That is a nice summation.
Life is a balance.

Spend time around airline administration where the intent is a continued squeeze of the operating assets: be they machine or human.
There is no mention of amenity, no concern for health and balance. There is no unbridled optimism just a relentless grind to eek out lower unit cost. With days fixed at 24 hours, weeks fixed at seven days, the only way this relentless grind continues is to strip it from those "assets" (or liabilities) that actually hold the whole thing together, that generate the operating revenue from their endeavours.


It begins with respect, something the incumbent has little of for anyone. Fish rot from the head.

[C441]

It begins with respect, something the incumbent has little of for anyone.

And as a result his employees in the most productive parts of the business have little for him.
Imagine what could have been achieved with a little mutual respect…...

[Rated De]

And as a result his employees in the most productive parts of the business have little for him.
Imagine what could have been achieved with a little mutual respect…...

It really generates tangible improvements.
Southwest Airlines has higher unit cost than Ryanair, yet it is FAR more productive.

Researchers puzzled by this investigated the difference and found it amounted to a key principle.

Respect.

[dragon man]

You all are missing the point, he has respect where it counts and that is on the street and in the campus.������

[dragon man]

You are all missing the point, he has respect where it counts and that is on The Street and in the campus!!!!

[gordonfvckingramsay]

Disrespect, the most dangerous extension to that is when the disrespect shown by the company manifests as a lack of self respect amongst its staff. We are well advanced in that aspect and I believe it’s terminal in many ways. For QF to survive with its safety record intact will require a quantum shift in attitude towards its people.

[Rated De]

Disrespect, the most dangerous extension to that is when the disrespect shown by the company manifests as a lack of self respect amongst its staff. We are well advanced in that aspect and I believe it’s terminal in many ways. For QF to survive with its safety record intact will require a quantum shift in attitude towards its people.


That is an astute comment. It is worrying too.

The tenure of the incumbent has stretched beyond all useful purpose.
At nearly eleven years, surely the job offers for one so "talented" must be rolling in? There sure doesn't seem any hurry to "secure" his services. Perhaps paradoxically he is the best thing for the brand.....of the competitor. The best thing that competitor airlines can do is hope he stays where he is..
The ideas, financially engineered to achieve self enrichment have achieved their aim.

It really requires a new set of eyes. Preferably those eyes are experienced, more humanistic and less inadequate.

[dragon man]

Totally and utterly running off the rails.

Pilots of the brain waves.




We used to go to church to learn about our sins. Today we go to our inbox and click on the latest message from the human resources department.

Qantas wants to purge its staff of bad thoughts by enrolling them on a training course conducted by the NeuroLeadership Institute, an organisation with an unsettling name that claims to remove the tumour of prejudice from the human brain.

The course will teach staff to “call out” unconscious bias, leading to improvements in gender balance, talent management and the wokely-dokely culture in general to which our national airline aspires.

How? By using “brain-based, process-focused and outcome-driven methodologies” based on “deep neuroscience research”. The results, or “outcomes” as we are obliged to call them, will be “better decisions”. Adopting this contentious program clearly wasn’t one of them, if the mumbo-jumbo language of the promotional leaflet is an indication of the precision of thought behind it.

We are left with the awful suspicion that the Qantas HR department has too much time on its hands, and money in its diversity and inclusion budget that is itching to be spent. The bureaucrats get to enhance their status by seeming to be doing something about unconscious bias, a problem no one knew existed until the neuroscience industry thought it up.

That, at least, is the kindest explanation. The alternative, that the people running Qantas think that resetting the human brain is as simple as rebooting the in-flight entertainment system, is considerably more troubling.

Neurobiology in its purest form — the scientific study of the nervous system — has made rapid progress since World War II thanks largely to advances in molecular biology, electrophysiology and computer science. The brain’s neural circuitry is better understood and the range of treatments to help it function smoothly is more effective.

The pseudoscience of behavioural neurology, on the other hand, is one of many infant disciplines taught in modern universities that swell the ranks of the educated by teaching nothing useful at all. It borrows from the biology of the brain, human and non-human, to make deterministic assumptions about what makes people tick. In its more adventurous forms, it presumes to use that understanding to make us better people. It is at this point that we find ourselves involuntarily, perhaps even subconsciously, shouting: “Enough!”

The search for scientific rules that explain why humans act as they do — quirkily, temperamentally and frequently irrationally — inspired some of the most tragic misadventures of the past century.

Communism was an attempt to put scientific order on human societies. It aimed to make the interaction between humans more efficient by forcing them to surrender self-will to a scientifically competent state.

The defining assumption of eugenics, that national destiny is determined by biological traits relating to race, spread like a virus in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, driving ill-advised social movements from Sydney to Stockholm to San Francisco. Nazism was its purest and, by far, the worst form.

Biological determinism is again in vogue, underpinning the new “science” of intersectionality with its notions of victimhood. Your destiny as a person of colour is decided at birth. Ditto the destiny of white people, driven to become oppressors by inherited traits.

The ferocity with which proponents of intersectionality defend this betrays the significance of biological determinism to their thinking. Even those who seek to change their biological gender do so because they were born that way.

The arguments are examined by Douglas Murray in his new book, The Madness of Crowds: Gender Race and Diversity. Since Murray is gay, he has the courage to discuss this sensitive issue more frankly than most.

The science of homosexuality is surprisingly unsettled, notes Murray. The zeitgeist, on the other hand, has settled on the assumption that sexuality is decided at birth. Yet Murray concludes that the notion that our sexuality determines your membership of an oppressed class is fragile. The idea that being gay bonds you with lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and so forth in a wider marginalised class is even less robust.

It is a division based not on fact but from a modern ideology born out of the frustration of Marxist academics at the failure of the original class narrative to inspire revolution.

The growth of the new anti-capitalist movement that harvests bespoke gender, race, indigenous, sexual and environmental causes into a powerfully disruptive force has changed the nature of our universities, says Murray.

“The purpose of large sections of academia had ceased to be the exploration, discovery or dissemination of truth,” he writes. “The purpose had instead become the creation, nurture and propagandisation of a particular, and peculiar, brand of politics. The purpose was not academia, but activism.”

The movement of the muddle-headed has not stopped at the university gates. Marxist contagion is present to a greater or lesser extent in every corporate bureaucracy.

The Qantas HR department, one suspects, is not rich on people who fly or service planes. Forgive our unconscious bias for a moment, but it probably has its fair share of graduate inductees with subprime degrees in novel branches of science or sustainability studies.

In these conditions the diversity and inclusion fixation flourishes, encouraging the bureaucracy to consider every part of the business through that lens. Biology, disguised as diversity, becomes the predominant factor in the appointment process. Competence comes second.

Senior branches of management and the board are too busy or too enchanted to work out what happens to a business that becomes swamped by a culture that is predominantly anti-business and possesses Marxist anti-capitalist undertones.

Qantas should quietly pushback against the woke zeitgeist while it still can. Its safety record is a tribute to the quality of its pilots and maintenance staff. The friendliness of its cabin staff is testimony to its inclusiveness.

These are not resources that can be enhanced by wheeling staff into the hangar and delving beneath the cowling. They will undoubtedly be improved, however, by getting the lip-curlers off their backs.

Nick Cater is executive director at the Menzies Research Centre

[Rated De]

We are left with the awful suspicion that the Qantas HR department has too much time on its hands, and money in its diversity and inclusion budget that is itching to be spent. The bureaucrats get to enhance their status by seeming to be doing something about unconscious bias, a problem no one knew existed until the neuroscience industry thought it up.


HR replaced personnel departments who largely immersed themselves in hiring. Creating self justification is the ultimate: Invent a reason to be and your species prospers.
The question for modern business is how to pay for all this crap?
The rather predictable response is by the removal of amenity from those not involved in this circle jerk.
Longer days, less remuneration, reduction in amenity and erosion of work life balance.

That they have jumped containment lines and spread at QF is testament to the inadequacy of the CEO.