Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the 48 hours of airport chaos that she could have prevented, and I ask: why didn't she immediately terminate this dispute without reference to a tribunal, as she could have under her Fair Work Act, thereby avoiding so much damage to hundreds of thousands of Australians and so much damage to Australia's international standing?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I say I am unsurprised by the Leader of the Opposition's question, coming as it does with the Leader of the Opposition showing his usual negativity. He has played politics over the last few day—

Mr Laming interjecting—

as the government has pursued the national interest and ensured through our swift action that Qantas planes are returning to the sky today, that industrial action is at an end and that the parties will now be brought together in a conciliation—and if that conciliation is unsuccessful then an arbitration, a determination by Fair Work Australia, will occur.

Opposition members interjecting—

So what the government has assured by its swift action is that industrial action is over and that—

Mr Laming interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister was asked a question. The Prime Minister is responding to a question. It is not an invitation for those on my left to canvass everything under the sun. The member for Bowman is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I again make the point that the course of action the government embarked on has given us the results we wanted to see, which is an end of industrial action and Qantas planes taking back to the sky so that people can proceed on their travel plans with certainty. I have been very concerned about the circumstances of stranded passengers. As I have said publicly and am happy to repeat in this place, I view Qantas's action on Saturday as extreme. I view it as extreme because they stranded tens of thousands of people around our nation and around the world. With the industrial action now at an end, those passengers can start seeing Qantas planes flying again and be able to resume their journeys.

During this period in which the government has been acting and attending to the national interest, of course the Leader of the Opposition has been playing his usual negative politics. In particular, the Leader of the Opposition has been seeking to make political points about section 431 of the Fair Work Act. As usual, the Leader of the Opposition grabs onto the politics but he never does any of the work that would be necessary in order to actually analyse the situation and act in the national interest. The Leader of the Opposition never bothered to turn his mind to the national interest.

Let me, for the purpose of the parliamentary record, explain to the Leader of the Opposition the workings of section 431 of the act. This is a section of last resort. It appears in the Fair Work Act and it appeared in earlier legislation. It has never been used. A minister cannot use it until a minister is satisfied that there is a high threshold of significant damage to the national economy—the same test that Fair Work Australia directed itself to. The claims that the minister could have used this section prior to the escalation of the industrial dispute on Saturday are wholly untrue, and anybody who provided him with legal advice to the contrary would have been providing him with the wrong advice.

The dispute escalated on Saturday. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition that the power under section 431 is capable of judicial review. It has never been used before. It would have taken us into wholly new legal terrain, so we determined on Saturday to use section 424—which has been effective—to get the result we wanted, which was to get planes back into the sky. I would also note on the record for the purpose of completeness that we were advised by the relevant department that in these circumstances the appropriate section to use was section 424. The Leader of the Opposition obviously wanted to get the nation on a journey of potentially never-ending litigation. I wanted to get this dispute resolved, and I have done so.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Once the Prime Minister was aware of what was about to occur at 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, why didn't she just pick up the phone to Alan Joyce and ask him not to ground the fleet? Was this too hard for you, Prime Minister?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister has the call.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question because it enables me to clarify here, on the public record, some of the things which have been claimed by the opposition which are wholly untrue. Let me make sure that the Leader of the Opposition actually understands what happened with this industrial relations dispute, because he is too involved in his cheap politics against the national interest to analyse the facts, analyse the circumstances and analyse the law. The only thing that the Leader of the Opposition ever knew about workplace relations was Work Choices and ripping workers off. To the Leader of the Opposition, if he actually wants to—instead of playing cheap politics—analyse the national interest then he should absorb the following facts—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It was a pretty simple question: why did she not call Alan Joyce and ask him not to ground the fleet?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the facts are always very inconvenient for the Leader of the Opposition but these are the facts: on Friday Qantas was indicating publicly that it was still involved in negotiating this dispute; on Saturday, around 2 o'clock, Qantas advised government ministers, particularly the minister for transport, that Qantas was grounding the planes at 5 pm—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why didn't you call?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Dickson is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The CEO of Qantas advised particularly the minister for transport around 2 o'clock that planes would be grounded at 5 o'clock in preparation of a lockout. The CEO of Qantas made it perfectly clear to the minister that he was not requesting that the government do anything, that he was not seeking to discuss the matter, that the decision had been made by the Qantas board and the decision would be implemented. So in the face of that advice when I received it from relevant ministers, rather than talk, I acted. The Leader of the Opposition—a man given to things like boat phone, might have spent endless days chat, chat, chat, chat, as thousands of passengers were stranded—might have done that. What I preferred to do was act. I determined immediately that the government would act, that we would intervene in this dispute.

Mr Hartsuyker interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Cowper is warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We made application to Fair Work Australia very quickly. An urgent hearing commenced on Saturday night. That hearing continued yesterday. It concluded in the small hours of this morning with a decision that industrial action be ceased. With industrial action now finished, this means that the substance of the Qantas dispute will either be addressed by the industrial parties through a conciliation or will be arbitrated by Fair Work Australia if the industrial parties within a 21-day period do not sort out the dispute. I know the facts do not suit the Leader of the Opposition's cheap politics. I know that he has had as many positions on industrial relations as he has had on climate change. But at base the only thing that is ever motivating him is cheap politics and working out how he can justify a return to Work Choices. That is all this is about.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will the Prime Minister inform the House of the importance to the national economy of getting Qantas planes back in the air and Qantas workers back to work?

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt is now warned.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for the question. I know that he and members of the government have been motivated at all times by the national interest. I will be very clear about this. On Saturday we saw an escalation of the Qantas dispute. We saw Qantas take extreme action. Qantas had alternatives. I have made it very clear to the CEO of Qantas that I do not believe this extreme action should have been taken. I do not believe that Qantas should have acted to leave tens of thousands of Australians stranded effectively without notice around Australia and in many other parts of the world. When Qantas advised the government that it was determined to take this course, that it was implementing grounding the planes at 5 pm on Saturday in preparation of a lockout of its workforce, the government concluded that this would be a course of action that could cause significant damage to the national economy and that the course the government should take is to intervene in the dispute.

We did intervene in the dispute and now the result is there for all Australians to see. Industrial action has been terminated and Qantas flights, during the course of this afternoon, will start returning to our skies. With Qantas flights returning to our skies from this afternoon, Qantas will commence working as normal over the next few days, its employees will commence working as normal, and that normal work pattern will continue. Industrial action has been terminated. The industrial parties now have an opportunity to sort the dispute out and, if they do not sort the dispute out, then at the end of 21 days Fair Work Australia can impose an outcome on them.

Throughout all of this, the priority of the government has been the circumstances of Australians who have been stranded in many parts of the country and overseas who have had to face up to that inconvenience. Of course we did take steps to ensure that we were providing consular assistance to those Australians who were stranded overseas. Our focus has also been on the national economy and the fact that industrial action has now been terminated is not just a win for passengers who were stranded, who will now see Qantas flights taking to the skies, it is a win for the one million Australians who work in the tourism industry. We were particularly concerned about their circumstances with the action by Qantas on the weekend.

The government, on Saturday afternoon, determined to intervene in this dispute because it was in the national interest to do so. Our swift intervention has ensured that industrial action is at an end. Our swift intervention has ensured that employees are back at work and that Qantas flights are starting to take to the sky. We have been motivated every step of the way by the interests of the national economy and by the circumstances of stranded passengers. It is a pity that the opposition is only motivated by the playing of cheap politics and the making of incorrect claims.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given the damage that the Prime Minister must have known would occur to the travelling public as a result of what the government had been warned about at 2pm on Saturday, why did the Prime Minister not call the CEO of Qantas to see if the action could be averted? If she did not speak to the CEO of Qantas, has she spoken to union boss Tony Sheldon about this matter?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can only assume from the nature of this questioning that the opposition have got up this morning and read the newspapers but they have not done anything else, because they appear to be referring to an incorrect report in today's newspapers that Alan Joyce himself has today corrected on the public record. Alan Joyce has verified today that he was not seeking to speak to me on Saturday afternoon, that he contacted the government for the purpose of advising the government of the decision of the Qantas board to ground flights at five o'clock. That is the circumstance here—as much as the game playing from the opposition continues.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has the Prime Minister concluded? The Prime Minister has resumed her seat.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I am not asking the Prime Minister about whether Alan Joyce called her; I am asking the Prime Minister why she did not call the CEO of Qantas and whether she has spoken to Tony Sheldon.

Honourable members interjecting —

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister has the call. She will be heard in silence.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are all feisty in pursuit of Work Choices again. Let me make it very clear what happened on Saturday afternoon and very directly answer the Deputy Leader of the Opposition's question. Given her noted advocacy of Work Choices, I will make sure I do answer it. On Saturday afternoon, the government was advised by Qantas that it had determined to ground the planes. The advice from Qantas was crystal clear that they had made the determination to do so. They were not consulting with the government; they were not asking the government to do anything. They were grounding the planes at five o'clock—no ifs, no buts, no maybes; they were grounding the planes. In the face of that declaration by Qantas that they were grounding the planes, the government acted. Maybe the Leader of the Opposition would have spent days and days and days in talks as people were stranded around the country. I preferred to act. I did act and, as a result, industrial action is at an end.

On the question of telephone calls to the industrial parties, I have today spoken to a number of the industrial parties and I have made it perfectly clear to them, including Alan Joyce—

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting—

and including Tony Sheldon—I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—that my expectation and the expectation of the government, having successfully acted to end the industrial action and get Qantas planes back in the sky, is that the industrial parties now get around a table and get this dispute fixed. I say to those industrial parties, as I have said to them in those telephone calls and as I said not long before coming to question time at a media conference, I believe the obligation now rests equally on each of their shoulders to get around a table and get this dispute sorted. My predisposition when faced with the circumstances I saw on Saturday was to get it fixed and I have.

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Would the minister update the House on what steps the government is taking to get Qantas planes back in the air?

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

I thank the member for Kingston for her question. The government's priority has absolutely been to get Qantas back in the air, and overnight we have achieved just that. Upon receiving notification from Qantas after 2pm on Saturday, this government acted. Firstly, we engaged with CASA. Given the safety issues that had been raised by Qantas, we confirmed with CASA that there were no grounds as far as they were concerned for the grounding of the airline at five o'clock that afternoon. There were no grounds whatsoever from the air safety regulator for the action that Qantas unilaterally took at their board meeting on Saturday morning. Unlike the Patrick dispute—where you had a collaboration and a conspiracy with the government, with people being trained in Dubai—this was a unilateral action by an employer to lock out its workforce on Monday at 8pm, in spite of the fact that the only industrial action which was pending was pilots wearing red ties and making announcements to passengers on aircraft. We confirmed that that was the case. We applied for an urgent hearing before Fair Work Australia. I had a discussion with the Prime Minister and we had discussions between ministers.

After 5pm, after the announcement by Mr Joyce, I spoke with the CEO of Virgin Australia, John Borghetti, who indicated he would assist. Indeed, Virgin Australia provided 3,000 extra passenger seats between the announcement by Qantas and the close of business on Saturday, an extra 3,500 seats yesterday and an additional 3,000 seats today. I thank Virgin Australia for coming to the party in aid of stranded Australians. We also established a task force in my department to work with the industry and other government departments to facilitate the movement of stranded passengers and to work through the safety and regulatory issues that were required. Following the decision by Fair Work Australia, the parties must now get on with making a deal, and Qantas planes need to get into the air. I can inform the House that CASA received the Qantas safety paperwork at 10.23 this morning. A CASA safety team is currently reviewing this material, assessing serviceability and sequencing of returning aircraft. CASA have allowed Qantas to conduct positioning flights—that is, flights without passengers moving to their points of departure—once RPTs can be resumed.

Qantas has today publicly advised that maintenance staff have worked well to clear the backlog of work and to ensure that the Qantas fleet is ready for operation as soon as possible. CASA have advised my department that at this stage it appears that flights could be up as early as 3 pm this afternoon. Given the large numbers affected, Sydney to Melbourne is the priority. International flights are expected to resume from London this evening, and my department and CASA estimate that Qantas will be at full operation on Wednesday. Safety will remain the priority for the government in getting Qantas back into the air.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why was the Prime Minister prepared to call Alan Joyce and Tony Sheldon today, after the event, but not on Saturday—when she could have avoided all this pain to so many hundreds of thousands of Australians?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we see in that question is absolutely typical of the Leader of the Opposition. He comes in here and makes allegations based on no facts, because he is always interested in playing politics. I would make this observation: the happiest people in this nation when Fair Work Australia made its decision overnight were the travelling public who were stranded. The unhappiest people in this nation were the opposition, because it was going to wreck their strategy to play negative politics today. To the Leader of the Opposition I say: what a ridiculous question. As he well knows, from every public statement by Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, Qantas had made a determination to ground planes at 5 pm.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. How can the Prime Minister's answer be relevant to a question about why a phone call could be made on a Monday but could not be made on a Saturday to avert the disaster of the last 48 hours?

Honourable members interjecting—

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is a tactical objection, not a point of order.

Mr Randall interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. And for my learned colleagues—some of whom sit on my right—tactical interjections will not be tolerated at all. The member for Canning, who has been mentioned in dispatches on a number of occasions, is now warned! The point of order now is direct relevance, I remind the Manager of Opposition Business. The Prime Minister will be directly relevant to the question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Being very directly relevant to the question, the Leader of the Opposition is creating a misrepresentation in this parliament. The Leader of the Opposition is trying to pretend that the facts of this matter were that somehow a telephone call would have changed Qantas's determination to ground the fleet on Saturday. In asserting that, he is flying directly in the face of everything that Qantas has said about the reasons that it acted on Saturday and its grounding of the fleet. So who he is insulting by this conduct is actually not me. He is insulting the people at Qantas who were putting forward their argument in the public domain about why they acted. The people he is verballing are people like Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas. But, of course, treating people decently and respectfully is never high on the Leader of the Opposition's menu. The attitude that the Leader of the Opposition is taking today is to deliberately to create a falsehood in order to pursue his political negativity.

What the Leader of the Opposition actually cannot stand about all of this is that the fair work system did what it needed to do to get industrial action terminated. He cannot stand that. The reason he cannot stand that is that he hoped that this Qantas dispute would add to his political campaign to sow doubts about the fair work system, to soften the ground for Work Choices. That is what he is on about. I did speak to the industrial parties today. I acted on Saturday to get the industrial action terminated. It was terminated this morning. Following its termination, I spoke to the industrial parties to tell them to get around a table in this 21-day period, to do it early and to get this dispute fixed. To the Leader of the Opposition, who is now in here with his carry-on: I really do wonder where he was for all of the years of the Howard government. I remind him of someone called Peter Reith—

An honourable member: Did you vote for him?

No, I don't think he did vote for him, as it happens. Maybe he is trying to forget who Peter Reith is. He certainly forgot to vote for him. The traditional disposition of the Liberal Party on these questions is against intervention in industrial disputes, and Peter Reith has made that absolutely clear. Indeed, in their days in office, the only time they intervened in industrial disputes with enthusiasm was when it was accompanied by dogs and balaclavas on the waterfront. We stand for fair work and a fair work system which is working. They stand for ripping off working people, and Mr Work Choices is shouting out his enthusiasm for doing that all over again.