Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Not a single person in Australia thought that Mr Joyce and the Qantas board would make this decision to lock out its workforce and shut down the airline.

But it is the case that I have also indicated that, in the lead-up to Saturday, never did Qantas or any trade union call for government intervention into the dispute. Indeed, up until Friday, one day beforehand, the Leader of the Opposition was also not calling for government intervention into the dispute. What we saw on Friday was a front-page story in the Daily Telegraph, with letters from Premier Baillieu and Premier O'Farrell to the Prime Minister that were given to the Daily Telegraph about the same time or before the Prime Minister's office received those letters. That morning, the Leader of the Opposition called for the government to intervene in the dispute—one day before Qantas announced their action and on the day of the Qantas AGM, in which none of the shareholders of Qantas were informed of this plan, even though we know from the Fair Work Australia hearing that Qantas received a report on 20 October about the consequences for safety of a decision to lock out the workforce. But not a word did we hear.

Mr Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition, was asked prior to question time, 'Did anyone from Qantas speak to you or your office prior to Saturday about the possibility of a grounding?' and he could not answer it. He was then asked, 'The question was whether your office was forewarned of the dispute; can you answer that?' and he could not do that either. We know that when they were in office they were a part of a conspiracy— (Time expired)

See this speech in context