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

Today is a monumental day for the rights of working people in this country. It was truly special to be down at the High Court this morning with some of the Qantas workers who have been through hell over the last three years. Don Dixon, one of those Qantas workers down at the High Court today, said it best: 'It's been three years where we've gone through this unnecessary dragging through the mud. We were just ordinary ladies and gentlemen going to work; we were no-one special, but today we feel that we're special.' Today is one of those rare days where those with all the power and all the money lose and ordinary working people win. It was a victory for working people standing together in solidarity, fighting not for themselves but for justice for their mates and colleagues. It was also a victory for good Australian employers, who are sick to death of companies like Qantas using loopholes. They will get some sense of justice.

The High Court's unanimous rejection of Qantas's last-gasp appeal means that 1,700 illegally sacked workers will get some sense of justice after an act of corporate bastardry that was callous, immoral and illegal. Today's decision is the final verdict on the Alan Joyce era at Qantas. Under Alan Joyce, Qantas was transformed from an aviation pioneer into a pioneer of gaming loopholes. Alan Joyce split the Qantas workforce into 38 different companies. Flight attendants are outsourced across 14 different companies, on 14 different rates of pay. They were terminated or threatened that their enterprise agreement would be terminated. Flight attendants on the verge of tears were at a Senate inquiry in 2021, telling us how Alan Joyce had destroyed their livelihoods and thrown their lives into turmoil. Qantas airport staff saw their jobs under attack. I've had long-serving Qantas Business Lounge staff coming to me in tears after being told to accept either a transfer to a labour hire company, on substantially less pay, or to lose their jobs. Qantas engineers and maintenance staff got it in the neck when Qantas offshored and outsourced their jobs. And of course the ground handlers have today got some long-overdue justice.

But even with today's decision, they will not get their jobs back. There may never be another directly employed ground handler at Qantas again. That is Joyce's and Goyder's legacy at Qantas—a workforce permanently splintered and destroyed. One of the key triggers for the Qantas lockout in 2011, which stranded tens of thousands of people around the world, was that workers wanted a commitment from Joyce that he would not outsource their jobs for lower pay. That was 12 years ago, and he we are today.

But it would be wrong for me to put the responsibility wholly on Alan Joyce's shoulders. That would be convenient for everyone else who was culpable for this disgraceful legacy. As TWU secretary Michael Kaine said this morning:

The airline cannot achieve the reset needed to survive under the same board that presided over the largest case of illegal dismissals in Australian corporate history.

And they should be starting with the chair, Richard Goyder. The offence they have been convicted of today may not be a criminal offence, but in my mind you are criminals—you are corporate criminals. Together, Alan Joyce and Richard Goyder are a corporate criminal who destroyed the lives of 1,700 workers and their families illegally. Just as Qantas finally acknowledged that Mr Joyce is not fit to be the Qantas CEO, Mr Goyder is not fit to be the Qantas chair. That much is blatantly clear. It's also questioned whether it's appropriate for Mr Joyce to remain chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and Mr Goyder chair of the AFL. Is it appropriate that vital cultural institutions in this country are run by convicted corporate laggards? Well, I think it isn't.

The compensation and fines that will be awarded by the Federal Court will not come out of the pockets of those people who deserve to have it come out of their pockets; it will come out of the pockets of Qantas workers, customers and shareholders. We cannot have a situation where Mr Joyce and Mr Goyder have been found guilty of such a heinous act but are permitted to go on being darlings of high society in this country. It even remains possible that Mr Joyce is going to walk away with $24 million this year. To this very day, Mr Goyder refuses to make any criticisms of Mr Joyce and refuses to take a position on his bonus. After today's decision, that is not tenable.

Of course, Mr Joyce and Mr Goyder could not have gotten away with the illegal and systematic destruction of the national carrier without the support of the previous government. Joyce's cronies in the Liberal and National parties gave him support at every step. Back in December 2020, shortly after the outsourcing was announced, I asked the employment minister, Senator Cash, whether she supported Qantas's decision. She said, 'This is a commercial decision for Qantas, and Qantas are entitled to make those decisions.' I'll say that again, so those opposite can hear it loud and clear. The minister said, 'Qantas are entitled to make those decisions.' That was the official position of a Liberal and National government on the illegal outsourcing.

What is disgraceful as the obedient act of bootlicking. Let's not lose sight of what the coalition leadership were actually supporting when they supported Mr Joyce's illegal outsourcing. Damien Pollard, one of the Qantas workers who was down at the High Court this morning, said:

The last three years have been horrendous for my colleagues and myself, a lot of us are struggling to gain other employment, there's been relationship breakdowns and people that have had to sell their houses …

He said, 'We were doing a fantastic job, and just because there was an ingrained hatred of a unionised workforce, they'll look for any window of opportunity to get rid of us, and that was soul destroying.'

That's what the Liberal and National leadership supported. And how dare anyone accuse the government of being too friendly with Joyce, when you come in here day after day and use the talking points on what it was okay to do to illegally destroy the lives of 1,700 families—even today, when the Labor government is trying to close the very loophole that Joyce used to illegally outsource these jobs. The Liberal and National leadership are defending the loophole, and Joyce's mates in the Business Council are defending the loophole. BHP and other companies have seen what Joyce has done to Qantas and they are saying this is a recipe for everyone else—this time, just do not say it because people are exercising union rights. As the ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, said this morning, 'While this is one victory, this behaviour will not stop unless a parliament passes the closing the loopholes bill.' I can promise you all we will not stop fighting to close the Joyce loophole. For the 1,700 people who won in court today and for the thousands of other Australians who have fallen victim to this rort, we will continue to fight until it is closed. And for Qantas, it is time to do the right thing.

Qantas told the Federal Court that workers should not be reinstated because they would just sack them again anyway. In a press statement today they tried to say the Federal Court said that's what should happen. It was Qantas saying that to those workers and those families, those 50-year-olds and 60-year-olds who spent decades working for that company. That's what they did. It is their responsibility, They have to carry it around their neck and so does Mr Goyder.

I will say this to Vanessa Hudson: you may not be legally obliged to employ those people because of the loophole in the legislation. But you are morally obliged to pay compensation and offer everyone of those workers who want to return to a decent and fair job with proper compensation, because I for one will be watching.