Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it will be good because we need to go through exactly what's happened with regard to aviation policy over these last many, many years. What we need to realise about those opposite is that when Ansett collapsed John Howard, the then Prime Minister, did nothing. He did absolutely nothing. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost in this country. Even when people were prepared to make a difference and stand up, with businesses and workers coming together, nothing was done. That's what happened.

But let's just say, 'That was a horrible one-off tragedy,' because we saw what that did to the tourism industry and aviation markets right across the economy. But wait. What did those opposite do when they had their next opportunity? It's in their DNA to do nothing about supporting Australian aviation and nothing serious about making a difference in Australian aviation, and it's also in their DNA to make sure that we don't have the results that we need for the Australian tourism industry. What did they do when Virgin Airlines collapsed? They sat on their hands again, for the second time. For the two major crises that have happened in the aviation industry under those opposite's watch, they did nothing. They did nothing because they weren't concerned about the workforce, about the effect on the aviation industry or about the effect on the Australian economy. They just sat on their hands and said, 'By the bye.'

Quite clearly, when you start making important decisions in the aviation industry, you need to be consistent. When you start making comments on the aviation industry, you need to be consistent. What those opposite did during the terrible crisis of COVID was give $2.7 billion to Qantas—you can't even say $2.7 billion quickly without it sounding like a hell of a lot of money because it was and it is. They imposed no obligations, no commitments and no requirements. What are the consequences? One is untrained staff, because staff were put off. Two point seven billion dollars was spent based on an ethical and moral obligation on Qantas to keep people employed. But people weren't kept employed. In fact, there are now 10,000 fewer people directly employed—well, 9,957. There are 1,700 workers in the High Court. When a government spends $2.7 billion, and workers get badly treated, it's an ethical question. Unfortunately, it's not a legal question; it's an ethical question. When you say to a company, 'You are supposed to keep those jobs,' it should keep to that commitment. But Qantas is also taking up a legal challenge in the High Court.

On the ethical question, did those opposite say anything? Absolutely nothing. In fact, the only person who did speak up was the then Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations, Amanda Stoker, who blamed the workers for losing their jobs. She didn't blame Alan Joyce and she didn't blame Qantas. She didn't blame the then Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his government, who gave Qantas $2.7 billion with no obligations. No, she blamed the workforce. Those 1,700 people had spent decades working extraordinary nights, doing shift work and missing their families to make sure that the company they loved remained in the air and stayed safe.

When those opposite come in here and talk about what's right and what's wrong in the aviation industry, there's a big picture—and let's look at the whole picture. They turned around and let Alan Joyce, Qantas and the board make this decision to run this airline into the ground. Those workers left and when we wanted to get back up into the air there were no workers to do the work. There were no trained workers to do it efficiently. There was no capacity to turn around and actually make sure that we had an airline which could do the work that was necessary. The circumstances that have occurred with this airline and around aviation are squarely at the feet of those opposite. They have to take responsibility for the challenges that are happening in the aviation industry. That's because $2.7 billion didn't do it—they never made it happen.

Clearly, there are challenges forward in what we do with regard to Qantas. I want to see these people across the way support some of the announcements that were made in the House today, because that will help the workforce at Qantas and every other workforce like it which is being exploited. (Time expired)