Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago I met with a group of Qantas workers who live in the community I represent. These loyal, hardworking Qantas employees had recently been sacked, along with 2½ thousand of their co-workers, in what I believe was one of the greatest acts of corporate immorality in Australia by our national airline. It's corporate immorality for this reason: these loyal, hardworking employees who were sacked are facing the prospect of their jobs being replaced by a foreign corporation with lower wages and conditions. It's evident that Qantas are doing all they can, and using the pandemic, to get rid of some highly skilled and valuable workers. In my view, that is immoral.

Many of these workers have given over 20 to 30 years service, loyal service, to this airline. A few of them I met with said to me, 'I'm in my late 50s'—or early 60s—'and all I've ever done is work in the aviation sector. How am I going to get a job now, particularly during a pandemic when the aviation sector is shut down?' If you look at the government's budget last week, what support from the government was there for these loyal Qantas workers, and others throughout the country, particularly those in the latter stages of their working life, for them to get back into the workforce? There's nothing, absolutely nothing. That says everything about this government's lack of commitment to the aviation sector in Australia.

We've seen what they've done, not only to Qantas workers but to the dnata workers as well, as was mentioned by the member for Ballarat. Some 5½ thousand of them have basically been thrown on the scrap heap by this government. Loyal, hardworking people who have worked for this company and provided support services for our airlines, who live in Australia, who pay their taxes in Australia and who have their families in Australia have been completely abandoned by this government, which lacks a plan to support one of the most vital employment sectors in our economy—our aviation sector. Where is the respect from this government for those that work in this industry?

This is a government that says it's all about jobs. I had to laugh last week when the Treasurer was out there, on the day of the budget, spruiking the budget and saying: 'It's all about jobs tonight. This is going to be a jobs budget.' I'm sorry, but you're not all about jobs if you stand by and allow our nation's national carrier to sack 2½ thousand of its loyal employees and then bring in a foreign corporation so that they can undercut their wages and conditions by paying lower wages and fewer conditions. You're not for jobs at all! You're not for jobs if you leave the 5½ thousand loyal workers of dnata out in the cold by refusing to provide support for them through JobKeeper, simply because of the structure they work under.

The member who spoke before me, the member for Forde, is wrong when he says that foreign corporations are excluded from JobKeeper. There are examples of where the government have amended the rules to ensure that can occur. We've seen the risk they pose to the 16,000 Virgin workers by refusing to support the airline during its difficult period of administration. The message that sent to the rest of the aviation sector, the travel sector and the tourism sector was that the federal government were not interested in supporting one of the most vitally important industries in our community.

In the community that I represent, our largest employer is Sydney Airport. Anyone who goes to Sydney Airport at the moment knows it's a ghost town; it's on its knees. The shock wave of that has been felt in the community I represent. There are close to 30,000 direct jobs associated with the airport. It provides support for a lot of families in our community. Those families are struggling at the moment, particularly those left behind by this government, with no support or JobKeeper. They're asking this government, 'Where is the plan for aviation to make sure it gets back on its feet as quickly as possible?' At some stage, when we do start flying again, particularly internationally, we're going to need a hell of lot of workers to make sure this industry can ramp up quickly. But a lot of those workers have left the industry because they simply cannot survive, particularly those who work for a company like dnata. You can't be without income if you've got no government support, so they've left the industry. How are you going to get them back quickly to make sure we can get this important industry back up and running, and support jobs not only in my community, but throughout Australia? That's why this government needs to develop a plan for aviation. I thank the member for Ballarat for moving this important motion.

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