Why Qantas CEO Alan Joyce’s grilling by Labor senator Tony Sheldon was deeply personal

The actions of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce twelve years ago were at the root of the very personal criticism he received during his last parliamentary appearance on Monday.

Labor Senator Tony Sheldon targeted Mr. Joyce with the kind of brutality not normally associated with the Senate Committee on Cost of Living.

The former National Secretary of the Transport Worker Union bombarded him with questions about the airline’s $500 million unused flight credits and the CEO’s $2.272 million pay package.

The animosity dates back to October 2011, when Mr Joyce ordered the grounding of all Qantas aircraft during a labor dispute involving the TWU, the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association and the Australian and International Pilots Union.

More than once during the committee hearing on Monday, Mr. Sheldon seemed to lose his temper with Mr. Joyce.

“Seriously, we are questioning here about substantial sums of money owed to the Australian public overseas and through the Jetstar operations that have not yet been paid,” he said at the Melbourne hearing.

“You’ve set an arbitrary deadline of December this year when people lose that money and the money stays in the pockets of Qantas and Jetstar, and you’re seriously telling the Australian public that you don’t know how many tens of millions of dollars it is. involved above that $370 million?’

Mr Joyce claimed that Qantas had paid $3 billion in refunds since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, closing the borders.

“What we’re saying, Senator, is that $3 billion in refunds have been issued since March 2020,” he said.

Senator Sheldon called out Mr Joyce for repeating the twist instead of responding to The Australian Financial Review’s allegation that hundreds of millions of dollars in flight credits went unused.

“I’ve already heard that evidence,” he said.

Qantas announced in June that more than $500 million in Covid credits had yet to be claimed and would expire at the end of 2023.

But on Monday, Mr. Joyce and Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully admitted there was $100 million still to claim.

In another part of the committee’s hearing, Senator Sheldon pointed to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s misgivings about Qantas’ airline tickets, linking that to the CEO’s generous $2.272 million pay package.

“This is one of the most discredited companies in terms of the ACCC, in terms of the number of complaints and you say you deserve every dollar you received,” he said.

Mr. Joyce tried to interrupt Senator Sheldon, but he kept attacking the CEO, whose 15-year Qantas run ends in November.

“Thousands of workers have been laid off because of significantly lower wages, and replaced by people with significantly lower wages, less training and fewer skills,” he said.

“All we’ve lost, all the fallout we’ve seen in the airline industry, with the rebirth of the airline industry, the loss of all that talent, and you say you should be rewarded for this?”

The criticism became so fierce that Senator Sheldon accused Liberal Senator Jane Hume, the chair of the committee, of covering for Qantas and its budget carrier Jetstar.

“The chair wants to cover you,” he said.

Senator Hume snapped, “I’m not covering, Senator Sheldon.”

The TWU, which Mr. Sheldon led from 2006 to 2019, represented baggage handlers who were locked out of their workplace during the 2011 dispute, alongside licensed engineers, ramp personnel and Australian and international pilots.

Labor Senator Tony Sheldon targeted Mr. Joyce with the kind of brutality not normally associated with the Senate Cost of Living Committee, bombarding him with questions about the airline’s $100 million in unused flight credits and its 2,272 million dollars from the CEO.

For Senator Sheldon, the animosity dates back to 2011, when Mr Joyce ordered all Qantas aircraft grounded amid a labor dispute with the Transport Workers Union (pictured), the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association and the Australian and International Pilots Union .

As the corporate dispute continued at the end of November 2011, Mr. Sheldon grew frustrated with Qantas for refusing to include a job security clause.

“The business has been extremely frustrating for the past seven months and even more frustrating for the past three weeks,” he said at the time.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was federal transport minister 12 years ago, intriguingly suggested that the unions were at fault, despite the TWU’s ties to the Labor Party.

“It’s not like they’re starting today,” he told Sky News in November 2011.

“Part of the problem here is just a lack of goodwill, a lack of respect on both sides of the dispute.”

Ten years later, Mr Albanese appeared alongside Mr Joyce when Qantas planes were decorated with Yes23 signs to promote the Prime Minister’s proposal for Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Ten years later, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) appeared alongside Alan Joyce as Qantas planes were decorated with Yes23 signs to promote the Prime Minister’s proposal for Indigenous Voice to Parliament

The Transport Workers Union’s aversion to Alan Joyce (pictured 12 years ago) dates back to October 2011, when he grounded flights