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

Last week I joined Qantas workers around Australia in cheering the new Qantas chair's decision to revoke nearly $10 million of Alan Joyce's final bonus. I can hear the cheers around the chamber. However, it's almost a year since the High Court ruled that Qantas illegally sacked 1,700 people, and Qantas has still not reached a settlement. It makes you wonder if the criminal culture at Qantas is changing quickly enough.

The Transport Workers Union has also announced it's lodging a same job, same pay application for Jetstar cabin crew. Thousands of Jetstar cabin crew were underpaid by more than $10,000 per year because of Alan Joyce's labour hire loophole. Thanks to the closing loopholes bill that the Albanese Labor government passed earlier this year, the union has applied to end that rort.

At the hearing on the bill, we heard from Sarah de Wilt, a Qantas flight attendant who didn't realise she was employed by a labour hire company rather than Qantas until four months after she started flying. She said:

You are cleaning up the vomit on the floor alongside somebody else. You were doing 19-hour duty and keeping your eyes open and keeping each other awake the same as everyone else, wearing the exact same uniform, recognised in public, walking through the airport and then just to accidentally find out.

But let's not forget that the Liberals and Nationals voted against closing the loopholes. They came in here and did Alan Joyce's bidding, and they voted to keep the loophole open—the loophole that sees thousands of Qantas and Jetstar workers ripped off every single day. Worse still, they've vowed to bring it back.

Over on this side, the Labor government is behind Qantas and Jetstar workers being paid fairly every step of the way. All the power to you. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We'll now move to question time.