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

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week we are being encouraged to ask R U OK? It is an important thing to ask and I think we should be doing it every day, not just this week. It's a time to stop and reflect on our mental wellbeing and the wellbeing of family and friends but it has me reflecting on what we're doing in this place about mental health. On R U OK day, politicians of all colours will post on social media, glossy yellow pictures will fill up your feeds and people will post heartfelt messages about the importance of mental health. But are we taking steps forward to make things better for people with mental health issues? It is something people in Tasmania ask me about a lot. It is not unusual for a person in Tasmania to wait three months, six months or even eight months to see a psychologist. It's a really hard thing for someone to put their hand up and ask for help. We tell people to do it all the time. But it is pretty terrible when they are finally able to take that step and we cannot help them. If it has taken a while to work up the courage to ask for help, you probably can't afford to wait another eight months to get it.

I have read horror stories from constituents trying to access mental health assistance. They highlight different areas where there are gaping holes in the system. A close friend of mine was diagnosed bipolar disorder. One night he was having suicidal thoughts. He is a dad and a husband. He drove himself to the Mercy hospital to get help but, as he was driving there, he thought about driving into a tree to end his life. He was seen pretty quickly at the hospital but they did not have the facilities to care for him. My friend was told to drive to the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie, where he could get care in the mental health facility. So the doctor told my friend to drive 40 minutes to another hospital, even though he was having thoughts of taking his life—wrapping his car around a hydro pole.

Another young woman went to see a doctor to get the mental health plan to see a psychologist. She had been self-harming and having suicidal thoughts. I actually know this girl; she is a great girl. Before he would sign off on the mental health plan, the doctor told this young woman to go home and write her own eulogy so she would know how her family would feel if she took her own life. That young woman says she still feel sick to the stomach when she thinks about that conversation.

I know a lot of people are receiving good care from professionals for their mental health issues but there are also a lot of people out there that we are letting down and I think we can be doing more. Last year the Labor government stopped the extra 10 subsidised mental health sessions under the better access scheme. These should not have been stopped without another alternative in place, even though I know we have a plan coming. There are ways we can do things better but this has left a gaping hole in the care people are able to receive. People with complex needs are now rushing in the sessions they do have and aren't getting the full care they require. It's leading to further pressures on an already overwhelmed health system.

We have a critical workforce shortage in the mental health sector, and we need to look at pathways for people to study psychology and related fields. But that'll take years, and people need help now. The government should consider expanding Medicare rebates to provisional psychologists to help address the severe waiting times for help. There are around 8,000 provisional psychologists across Australia, and in Tasmania that would mean 150 extra professionals ready tomorrow to provide subsidised sessions.

We also need to go back to the recommendations of the House of Representatives Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. I can't count how many inquiries we've spent a lot of time on and whose recommendations we've then tossed aside. The committee made 44 recommendations, and they need to be seriously considered and addressed.

The government should also publicly release the National Mental Health Workforce Strategy report. There are probably some great ideas in there, but, when they won't put out the report, who knows? When we're committing $60 million in the budget towards implementing a strategy, I think the parliament and the public should know what that is.

These things won't single-handedly fix our mental health system, and even if we do all these things there'll still be a lot of work to be done. But it's important to show all Australians, particularly young people, that we're actively working on improving things in this space It's time to reach out and say: 'You're not alone. You're not in this alone. We've got your back.' Please ask your mates, your friends or a stranger, 'Are you okay?' If you love them, ask them if they are really okay.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

TERLE () (): Boy, what a day today! What a day! It's no news to this chamber after that brilliant contribution from my friend for 30-odd years and colleague Senator Tony Sheldon. It's a hard act to follow. We know what's happened today with Qantas and the High Court decision.

There are six names I want to read out to give a special 'thank you' to them: Michael Kaine, Nick McIntosh, Tim Dawson, Richie Olsen, Mike McNess and Ian Smith. These men are the national committee of management of the TWU, the Transport Workers Union. A couple of years ago, when those crooks at Qantas, led by Mr Joyce—it hurts me to say 'Mr Joyce'—and ably backed up by the board, decided that it was a great idea to illegally sack 1,700 workers at Qantas, these men made the decision, after 1,700 families were thrown on the scrap heap, that, no matter what the cost and against all the legal advice they were getting, they would take the stand that these 1,700 people were members of the Transport Workers Union and they deserved the backing of the TWU to the very end. The Transport Workers Union backed them all the way.

It was at enormous cost, with enormous bills, but those six men did not falter, because they had to do the right thing—what was right by those 1,700 families that Joyce, Goyder and the rest of the crooks at Qantas, rubbing their hands together, threw on the scrap heap while they were making these enormous profits and taking taxpayers' dollars off all of us. They took $2.8 billion from taxpayers and put it into their coffers—not to mention the $570 million of flights that were booked and not taken because of COVID and all of that. If you go to Woolies, Bunnings or Coles and say, 'I bought something, and I've brought back the receipt,' you get your money back. With Qantas, no way: 'We'll keep your money and put it in our pockets or piggy bank, and maybe we'll give you a flight, but we'll jack up the price of the flights so you can't afford it anyway.'

Now I want to read another list of names, and I am keeping my emotions in check, because I really like to speak as I used to when I was a truck driver: Richard Goyder, the group chairman of Qantas; Maxine Brenner, board member, Qantas; Jacqueline Hey, board member, Qantas; Belinda Hutchinson, board member, Qantas; Michael L'Estrange, board member, Qantas; Todd Sampson, board member, Qantas; Antony Tyler, board member, Qantas; Doug Parker—I don't know Mr Parker, who only just joined the board in May, and I bet he wishes to Christ he hadn't answered that phone call when he got it, but he only joined in May and he's the only one who's had any airline experience, so I'll leave him aside for now; and Dr Heather Smith, with all these initials—PSM, FAIIA—board member, Qantas. These are the white-collar criminals who ticked off on this illegal behaviour that was invented by Joyce and Goyder. They gave it the big tick and said: 'Go ahead. Throw those 1,700 loyal workers under that truck going past, because we're going to outsource their jobs.' The jobs weren't gone; they were outsourced. Those names that I've read to you have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in Qantas shareholders' money, rubbing their hands together for their bonuses. How in the hell, with the damage that has been done to this iconic company in this nation, do they get out of bed each morning, look in the mirror and like what is looking back at them?

We know Mr Joyce has jumped in the pointy end of a Qantas plane and has taken off. Let's not forget that Mr Joyce is going to get a $15 million bonus for this disgraceful criminal behaviour. It doesn't matter to him. He's off; he's gone. Let's not forget that it's the same Mr Joyce who sold, I think, two million shares that he had in Qantas six weeks before the announcement of the profits. I think the whole package he's walking away with is worth $24 million. Those names that I read out—Goyder and company—the whole damn lot of them are just as complicit in this criminal behaviour.

Where is their fortitude? They put out such a weak apology today. They didn't apologise. To the Qantas shareholders: how the hell can you keep these people in a job? The fines that are coming will be running into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The shareholders should be demanding that Goyder and the rest of these criminals that backed him and Joyce should be on the way out and making sure the door doesn't hit them on the bum on the way out.