Qantas, Alan Joyce’s personal play thing.
Remember, the great Mick Young, a hero of the post-war ALP, resigned from Bob Hawke’s ministry over an undeclared teddy bear.
The Paddington Bear controversy in 1984 led to Mick being stood down from his portfolio of Special Minister of State by Hawke pending the outcome of the Black Inquiry into the matter. Young was cleared by Black, and returned to his role. No resignation.
Young had, in fact, previously been forced to resign from his Special Minister of State portfolio back in July 1983. That was over his breaching Cabinet-security and lying to Hawke over the Combe-Ivanov Affair.
Young finally did resign from his then portfolio of Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs but that was not until 1988. This time it was over his dodgy handling of campaign finances in the Harris-Daishowa affair.
Were Young alive today, what would he think of Albanese’s grasping ways?
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Is everyone else sick of the constant narrative of "First Nations" this, "Vote Yes" that on every JQ company email lately?
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
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Attempting to institutionalise racism
Why this lunatic idea got past a drunken thought bubble I’ll never understand.
The ‘yes’ vote is racist at its very core - it’s morally bankrupt.
Why any company would align themselves with anything political is beyond me. Why a company would align itself with a policy straight out of the 1930’s is reprehensible!
The ‘yes’ vote is racist at its very core - it’s morally bankrupt.
Why any company would align themselves with anything political is beyond me. Why a company would align itself with a policy straight out of the 1930’s is reprehensible!
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Is everyone else sick of the constant narrative of "First Nations" this, "Vote Yes" that on every JQ company email lately?
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
I got an email mail from someone the other day, I counted 48 lines in the signature of agenda pushing. My signature has three lines. Name, Base and Title.
I got an email mail from someone the other day, I counted 48 lines in the signature of agenda pushing. My signature has three lines. Name, Base and Title.
Is everyone else sick of the constant narrative of "First Nations" this, "Vote Yes" that on every JQ company email lately?
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
The following 2 users liked this post by cLeArIcE:
Is everyone else sick of the constant narrative of "First Nations" this, "Vote Yes" that on every JQ company email lately?
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
What if my personal views go against the logos on the side of the metal I'm assigned to drive? Can I refuse to drive it?
Do they have a right to demand I move their propaganda machine from point A to point B?
But then again, what union is going to take this on
The following 2 users liked this post by spiritofoz:
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I would think that if they paint this on the aircraft, there should by law by asterisk underneath it that says, 'This may or may not be the view of Qantas employees'.
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“ Why is it relevant what I do in my private life? I’m not a public figure. People regard the CEO of Qantas as like a politician and it definitely shouldn’t be. It’s a business figure,’ Mr Joyce told The Australian last year”
No Alan, people don’t regard you as a politician. It is you who keep thinking you are one and using the Qantas brand to inflate your point of view, way beyond what anyone actually cares what you personally think.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/outgo...a6dda98cf7ce7b
No Alan, people don’t regard you as a politician. It is you who keep thinking you are one and using the Qantas brand to inflate your point of view, way beyond what anyone actually cares what you personally think.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/outgo...a6dda98cf7ce7b
“ Why is it relevant what I do in my private life? I’m not a public figure. People regard the CEO of Qantas as like a politician and it definitely shouldn’t be. It’s a business figure,’ Mr Joyce told The Australian last year”
No Alan, people don’t regard you as a politician. It is you who keep thinking you are one and using the Qantas brand to inflate your point of view, way beyond what anyone actually cares what you personally think.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/outgo...a6dda98cf7ce7b
No Alan, people don’t regard you as a politician. It is you who keep thinking you are one and using the Qantas brand to inflate your point of view, way beyond what anyone actually cares what you personally think.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/outgo...a6dda98cf7ce7b
Remember when you vote, you need to put No in both boxes….just letting ya all know.
“In Australia there is no hierarchy of descent; there must be no privilege of origin”
Bob Hawke.
“In Australia there is no hierarchy of descent; there must be no privilege of origin”
Bob Hawke.
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Thread Starter
Albo and Alan’s woke pro-Voice campaign bringing Qantas and Labor back down to earth
The once great Flying Kangaroo has been trashed by a CEO who loves to grandstand for social justice while letting the airline run to seed, writes James Morrow.
James Morrow@pwafork
3 min read
August 15, 2023 - 1:23PM
Qantas’ ‘empty virtue signalling’ will make no difference to the Voice voteYou really have to hand it to Qantas, which has come up with what might be the most novel marketing strategy in commercial aviation history.
The pitch, which was unveiled at Sydney Airport on Monday morning with a little help from the prime minister (who doesn’t have to worry about flying commercial, at least for a bit), goes something like this.
We may not get you there on time. We may not get your bags there at all.
But guess what: If you’re lucky, there will be a big rainbow sticker on the side of your plane telling you to vote yes to the Voice.
Bon voyage!
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce attend the launch of the Qantas 'Yes' Campaign. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye GerardThat this is not Mad Men-level marketing genius goes without saying.But nor is it surprising that the airline has gone down this particular runway, given the power the Voice has to make otherwise sensible people sell the idea in utterly insensible ways.
Qantas Baggage Handlers Throw Luggage in TikTok Video. Picture: Tik TokIt is for precisely this reason that nobody at any of the very high-powered campaign consultancies engaged by Yes23 and the Uluru Dialogue crash tackled Alan Joyce the moment they saw him advancing in their direction.You can only imagine the Zoom call that led to Monday’s event.
“Okay team, any thoughts on high profile folk we could sign up to the Yes campaign?”
“Well, I hear the guy who turned his company into the most complained about airline in Australia might be available.”
“Who? Alan Joyce? Same guy who just cashed in $17 million in share options to buy a new apartment overlooking the Harbour? Yes, great thinking, he’s just who we need to tell struggling Australians to vote Yes and atone for their privilege.”
You see the problem.
The spectacle of a gent who presided over his company raking in billions of dollars in Covid subsidies while it unlawfully fired thousands of ground staff during the pandemic and who sets fares as high as his airline’s customer satisfaction is low might not be the best ambassador for constitutional change.
TWU NSW/QLD Secretary Richard Olsen at the Qantas terminal protesting job cuts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian GillesEconomy passengers tell horror stories of bags gone astray and cabins that have been allowed to go to seed.Meanwhile hedonists have observed that Qantas’ international business class has all the charm of the waiting room of an expensive Double Bay wellness clinic and is nowhere near as swank as the swell products on offer from Asian airlines like Singapore or ANA or Gulf carriers like Etihad and Qatar.
Speaking of Qatar, it is also worth noting that Qantas gets away with charging outrageous fares and treating customers like mugs because it seems that the government that regulates the airline industry allows it too. This is the same government that recently knocked back Qatar’s application to expand its landing rights in Australia
Particularly as Qantas has also decided to offer free tickets to campaigners pushing the Yes case (no such courtesy extended to the other side, of course).
Asked to explain all this by the Coalition, Transport Minister Catherine King stood up in parliament the other day and gave a smug answer about protecting local jobs and the national interest.
Catherine King during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin OllmanSadly the House of Representatives does not allow follow-up questions but, if it did, the Opposition might have asked how the minister managed to keep a straight face while talking about Qantas as a champion of local employment. Or, for that matter, if the national interest means keeping Australian tourist dollars at home because, absent competition, its too damn expensive to go anywhere else.This week also saw the tantalising revelation that Tourism and Trade Minister Don Farrell declined to deny that he was in favour of giving Qatar more access to the Australian market, but that he was apparently overruled somewhere further up the chain.
Ultimately, it may turn out that in the long run the government has done Qantas no favours by blocking overseas competitors who could teach them a thing or two about comfort and service. And, in the meantime, for both Joyce and Albaneese, this can only go so far.
Just as Qantas’s once loyal customers believe the airline has lost focus, polls suggest the same thing is happening to Labor, and that the PM’s high pressure sales tactics on the Voice are distracting from more pressing cost of living issues.
A new CEO, Vanessa Hudson, comes in to the Qantas job in a few months.
She’ll have her work cut out for her winning back the trust of a customer base that has seen that trust abused in recent years.
Putting an end to politics would be a good start.
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Either the entire management team, led by Joyce (as I recently heard quoted the 'mincing midget') are complete idiots, or - is there a political payback somewhere?
There is always a logical reason. For or against posters here, I credit with reasonable intelligence. The 'for's' as much as the 'against' (obviously we know the 'for's' are wrong, but thats MHO) are in furious agreement that a monumentally stupid idea is for ANY company to take such a stand on political issues. Frankly, it's business 101 to do the exact opposite.
Where is the logic? Attempting to 'prove' you're more Australian than the next company? With the polls on this removed in papers as soon as they are published because they are so far against? (recent news.com.au). Just doesn't wash. If anyone in marketing who reads this can find a reason, please let me know. I can't see a 'sound' and 'logical' reason - so what is it? And we know Elaine is a masterful political animal.
There's a value in this for QF (if not Elains personally - maybe as simple as an AOM?) - what's the value??
Thread Starter
Joe Aston the gift that keeps on giving.
Rear Window
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The federal Transport Minister Catherine King is fast making herself a figure of abject derision.
Having blocked Qatar Airways from launching 28 new flights to Australia per week over the howls of sundry state governments and the entire travel and tourism sector, King is now offering her fourth different rationale for that decision in as many weeks.
First, it was in response to a human rights incident at Doha Airport in 2020.
Transport Minister Catherine King has given yet another car crash interview on her decision to block new Qatar Airways flights to Australia. Alex Ellinghausen “I want to be able to decarbonise the transport sector” was King’s second explanation last month – and a nonsensical one given Qatar operates one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient fleets in the global airline industry.
Third, King told parliament last week that she’d refused Qatar to protect “long-term, well-paid, secure jobs [for] Australians in the aviation sector”. Those would be Qantas jobs she’s referring to, of course, which are some of the least secure jobs going around. Just ask the 1700 baggage handlers Qantas sacked illegally in 2020 or the 8000 employees Joyce had already axed or outsourced before the pandemic.
On Tuesday, King went on Cairns radio and linked the Qatar rebuff to the fact “Qantas has just purchased brand-new planes – that’s at a significant cost … They’re bigger planes, they’re quieter planes, they’re … better for the environment, so we’re going to start to see a lot of that.”
Is she serious?! Qantas is an ASX-listed corporation, 24 per cent foreign-owned, generating record profits for its shareholders. It made $2.5 billion in pre-tax profit in the 12 months to June 30.
It did so, incidentally, by ripping the faces off its customers, by charging airfares previously unheard-of, for levels of service the airline conceded were “[not] what we expect of ourselves.”
That is what taxpaying Australian travellers got from Qantas in return for the $2.7 billion of Commonwealth subsidies the airline gobbled during COVID-19.
And now we have an Australian cabinet minister making a protectionist trade ruling for the primary purpose of subsidising the long-delayed capex bill of a publicly traded company. I mean, what planet are we on here?
The idea that Qantas needs or deserves further government assistance is completely risible. And is this seriously how the federal government is conducting Australia’s trade policy with our international partners?
A massive wealth transfer from Australian consumers to Qantas shareholders is now Albanese government policy. That’s the whole function of anticompetitive conduct, to create economic rents, or super-profits, that would otherwise be competed away.
Other operators, such as Qatar, look at those rents and say: “Gimme some of that; gimme some slots and even though consumer prices will fall, we can still earn an acceptable return on our capital.” And Australia’s government is saying “No thanks”!
King was not finished. Next, she regurgitated a version of her Question Time line that Qatar’s new flights are “not in our national interest.” Yet irreconcilably, she then noted that “we’ve also seen a lot of [other] international carriers … starting to ask to increase capacity as well.
“So, we’ve got before us at the moment Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam Airlines, I understand Turkish Airlines … and a few others are starting to show interest.”
Hang on, so new Singapore Airlines flights are in the national interest? Vietnam Airlines and Cathay flights are good for Australia? That makes zero sense. Don’t these flights need to be blocked as well, to help Qantas pay for its new planes (the ones it’ll only really start paying for after Alan Joyce collects his last bonus)?
The Labor Party can’t seriously be taking a hard line against Qatar Airways on any geopolitical basis. Penny Wong just gave Palestine East Jerusalem for crying out loud!
King kept on digging. “It’s good to see, I think, Emirates has also increased its capacity as well, but international aviation – certainly incoming – is still not back to where we’d like it to be.”
King omits to mention that all Emirates flights to and from Australia are actually Qantas flights, so no wonder she’s delighted to permit more of them. The two airlines – indeed, the two largest international carriers in this market – operate as one business. They even have permission from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to collude on pricing.
Qantas’ far smaller rival Virgin Australia enjoys no such immunity. As a code-share partner, it sells Virgin tickets on Qatar flights to Europe and the United Kingdom and then relies on Qatar’s incoming traffic to feed on to its domestic Australian flights.
So, the Albanese government is not merely pampering Qantas to the detriment of its foreign rivals, it is quite nakedly preferring Qantas over its smaller domestic competitor. In her next car crash interview, we’d like to hear King explain why Virgin Australia jobs don’t count as “long-term, well-paid, secure jobs for Australians in the aviation sector”.
King concluded her baffling treatise by saying that, “Prices have been too high, and we know that. We’ve got an aviation green paper leading into a white paper about to come out shortly that talks a bit about the issue around pricing competition, consumer rights and the importance of that.”
Oh, don’t worry, there’s a green paper coming. It’s already late, but it will lead to a white paper in two years’ time!
This is King absenting herself from the decisions she could make right now to alleviate the pain of Australian travellers, facing fares to London, Los Angeles and Phuket that are 55 per cent higher than 2019, and the local tourism industry, operating with 60 per cent less visitors than 2019.
King seems to think she’s making a dessert. It starts green, then turns white, and in a flash a magic pudding will be served. In reality, it’s just another government process for Qantas to capture, and how hard could that be when the minister can barely sustain a logical narrative sequence?
It’s another triple jackpot for Joyce, a longstanding beneficiary of not just bad policy, but no policy. “Oh no, you can’t provide an emergency loan to Virgin”. Five minutes later: “Please give me $2.7 billion I don’t have to pay back.”
Nothing King has said thus far is defensible. Absolutely nothing. She’s had four goes at this and she sounds more deranged each time. Not to put too fine a point on it, but she may not be the sharpest mind ever to come out of regional Victoria.
What’s the fifth version of King’s reasons going to be? “Qatar” sounds too familiar to “Qantas” – this is now an international trademark dispute?
She should go and speak to her constituents in Wendouree West, a real hotspot for stolen TVs on Facebook Marketplace. After nearly two years locked outside Dan Andrews′ pitiless ring of steel, all they want is to use the last of their JobKeeper savings on a trip to the Gold Coast.
Sadly, Jetstar’s flights from Avalon now cost the equivalent of three weeks’ rent. They’re being wrung dry by Qantas, and their local member is public official number one protecting the racket. Catherine King, Ballarat’s finest
Rear Window
Minister for Qantas Catherine King crashes on take-off
Joe AstonColumnistUpdated Aug 16, 2023 – 7.38pm, first published at 7.30pmSave
Share
The federal Transport Minister Catherine King is fast making herself a figure of abject derision.
Having blocked Qatar Airways from launching 28 new flights to Australia per week over the howls of sundry state governments and the entire travel and tourism sector, King is now offering her fourth different rationale for that decision in as many weeks.
First, it was in response to a human rights incident at Doha Airport in 2020.
Transport Minister Catherine King has given yet another car crash interview on her decision to block new Qatar Airways flights to Australia. Alex Ellinghausen “I want to be able to decarbonise the transport sector” was King’s second explanation last month – and a nonsensical one given Qatar operates one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient fleets in the global airline industry.Third, King told parliament last week that she’d refused Qatar to protect “long-term, well-paid, secure jobs [for] Australians in the aviation sector”. Those would be Qantas jobs she’s referring to, of course, which are some of the least secure jobs going around. Just ask the 1700 baggage handlers Qantas sacked illegally in 2020 or the 8000 employees Joyce had already axed or outsourced before the pandemic.
On Tuesday, King went on Cairns radio and linked the Qatar rebuff to the fact “Qantas has just purchased brand-new planes – that’s at a significant cost … They’re bigger planes, they’re quieter planes, they’re … better for the environment, so we’re going to start to see a lot of that.”
Is she serious?! Qantas is an ASX-listed corporation, 24 per cent foreign-owned, generating record profits for its shareholders. It made $2.5 billion in pre-tax profit in the 12 months to June 30.
It did so, incidentally, by ripping the faces off its customers, by charging airfares previously unheard-of, for levels of service the airline conceded were “[not] what we expect of ourselves.”
That is what taxpaying Australian travellers got from Qantas in return for the $2.7 billion of Commonwealth subsidies the airline gobbled during COVID-19.
And now we have an Australian cabinet minister making a protectionist trade ruling for the primary purpose of subsidising the long-delayed capex bill of a publicly traded company. I mean, what planet are we on here?
The idea that Qantas needs or deserves further government assistance is completely risible. And is this seriously how the federal government is conducting Australia’s trade policy with our international partners?
A massive wealth transfer from Australian consumers to Qantas shareholders is now Albanese government policy. That’s the whole function of anticompetitive conduct, to create economic rents, or super-profits, that would otherwise be competed away.
Other operators, such as Qatar, look at those rents and say: “Gimme some of that; gimme some slots and even though consumer prices will fall, we can still earn an acceptable return on our capital.” And Australia’s government is saying “No thanks”!
King was not finished. Next, she regurgitated a version of her Question Time line that Qatar’s new flights are “not in our national interest.” Yet irreconcilably, she then noted that “we’ve also seen a lot of [other] international carriers … starting to ask to increase capacity as well.
“So, we’ve got before us at the moment Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam Airlines, I understand Turkish Airlines … and a few others are starting to show interest.”
Hang on, so new Singapore Airlines flights are in the national interest? Vietnam Airlines and Cathay flights are good for Australia? That makes zero sense. Don’t these flights need to be blocked as well, to help Qantas pay for its new planes (the ones it’ll only really start paying for after Alan Joyce collects his last bonus)?
The Labor Party can’t seriously be taking a hard line against Qatar Airways on any geopolitical basis. Penny Wong just gave Palestine East Jerusalem for crying out loud!
King kept on digging. “It’s good to see, I think, Emirates has also increased its capacity as well, but international aviation – certainly incoming – is still not back to where we’d like it to be.”
King omits to mention that all Emirates flights to and from Australia are actually Qantas flights, so no wonder she’s delighted to permit more of them. The two airlines – indeed, the two largest international carriers in this market – operate as one business. They even have permission from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to collude on pricing.
Qantas’ far smaller rival Virgin Australia enjoys no such immunity. As a code-share partner, it sells Virgin tickets on Qatar flights to Europe and the United Kingdom and then relies on Qatar’s incoming traffic to feed on to its domestic Australian flights.
So, the Albanese government is not merely pampering Qantas to the detriment of its foreign rivals, it is quite nakedly preferring Qantas over its smaller domestic competitor. In her next car crash interview, we’d like to hear King explain why Virgin Australia jobs don’t count as “long-term, well-paid, secure jobs for Australians in the aviation sector”.
King concluded her baffling treatise by saying that, “Prices have been too high, and we know that. We’ve got an aviation green paper leading into a white paper about to come out shortly that talks a bit about the issue around pricing competition, consumer rights and the importance of that.”
Oh, don’t worry, there’s a green paper coming. It’s already late, but it will lead to a white paper in two years’ time!
This is King absenting herself from the decisions she could make right now to alleviate the pain of Australian travellers, facing fares to London, Los Angeles and Phuket that are 55 per cent higher than 2019, and the local tourism industry, operating with 60 per cent less visitors than 2019.
King seems to think she’s making a dessert. It starts green, then turns white, and in a flash a magic pudding will be served. In reality, it’s just another government process for Qantas to capture, and how hard could that be when the minister can barely sustain a logical narrative sequence?
It’s another triple jackpot for Joyce, a longstanding beneficiary of not just bad policy, but no policy. “Oh no, you can’t provide an emergency loan to Virgin”. Five minutes later: “Please give me $2.7 billion I don’t have to pay back.”
Nothing King has said thus far is defensible. Absolutely nothing. She’s had four goes at this and she sounds more deranged each time. Not to put too fine a point on it, but she may not be the sharpest mind ever to come out of regional Victoria.
What’s the fifth version of King’s reasons going to be? “Qatar” sounds too familiar to “Qantas” – this is now an international trademark dispute?
She should go and speak to her constituents in Wendouree West, a real hotspot for stolen TVs on Facebook Marketplace. After nearly two years locked outside Dan Andrews′ pitiless ring of steel, all they want is to use the last of their JobKeeper savings on a trip to the Gold Coast.
Sadly, Jetstar’s flights from Avalon now cost the equivalent of three weeks’ rent. They’re being wrung dry by Qantas, and their local member is public official number one protecting the racket. Catherine King, Ballarat’s finest
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