OPINION
A recurring feature in communist dictatorships is how quickly a Hero of the Revolution can turn into a Counter-Revolutionary Enemy. From Leon Trotsky to Peng Duhai, once-Party insiders are only the Dear Leader’s displeasure from being denounced and purged.
Alan Joyce is getting his own taste of all that. Not that he likely cares.
Of course, the left these days don’t need to haul their former heroes before show trials and drag them out to the firing squad. They’ve got social media to do their dirty work — and Joyce is copping the full force of the social media Red Guards.
It seems only yesterday that Joyce was the darling of the “progressive” left: from gay marriage to “indigenous voice”, there hasn’t been a fashionable lefty cause that the flamboyantly homosexual Qantas chief wasn’t happy to spruik. Carefully doled out, hand-picked memberships to the ultra-exclusive Qantas Chairman’s Lounge became a much-sought-out form of patronage.
Now, suddenly, no-one wants to know Alan Joyce. Least of all the Qantas board.
Not that the porky little gombeen will be shedding too many tears, as he flounces away from the wreckage he’s inflicted on Qantas’ reputation, pockets bulging with $24 million of shareholders’ cash.
Joyce’s early exit comes amid a storm of controversy surrounding Australia’s largest airline group, with the ACCC last week taking the Flying Kangaroo to court over allegations it had sold more than 8,000 tickets to flights it had already cancelled, and calling for a $250 million fine.
In its response, Qantas admitted its reputation had suffered damage on “several fronts” and said it would address the watchdog’s claims fully in court.
“The period of time that the ACCC’s claims relate to, in mid-2022, was one of well-publicised upheaval and uncertainty across the aviation industry, as Qantas struggled to restart post-COVID. We openly acknowledge that our service standards fell well short, and we sincerely apologise. We have worked hard to fix them since, and that work continues.”
Qantas also late last month scrapped its controversial expiry date on COVID-19 flight credits, a move which followed revelations low-cost subsidiary Jetstar still held $100 million worth of unused credit.
Australian Aviation
There was also the hidden camera footage of Qantas baggage handlers treating passengers’ luggage as if it were a scrum, and countless stories of lost luggage.
And, in the past weeks, damaging revelations that the airline had allegedly lobbied the Albanese government to lock out rival Qatar Airlines from doubling its flights to Australia.
Doesn’t this government believe in competition? Doesn’t it want lower airfares?
Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said the approach could have reduced international airfares by up to 40 per cent. Of course, she had a sizeable vested interest. But the public might be smart enough to figure that more flights mean lower fares – and Labor didn’t want more flights. Slight problem. But Labor had a good reason. Transport Minister Catherine King explained it was in the “national interest”. Ah, the national interest; exactly what aspect of the national interest?
Labor fumbled, it didn’t really know. The slick PR machine was in malfunction. Kick it. Nothing happened. No smooth words of reassurance. Ministers seemed utterly clueless. Finally, a message trickled out; Qantas had to be sustained. Sure, but the public understood — another Qantas protection ploy.
Any doubts that that was exactly what it was were dispelled when Treasurer Jim Chalmers tub-thumped a new commitment to competition policy, with a big, flashy review — which specifically excluded aviation.
Labor and Albanese landed themselves balls-deep in Alan Joyce’s back pocket.
Even more extraordinary is that Labor didn’t see this coming. For the past 12 months there has been mounting anger towards Qantas over its incompetence and arrogance. It seems to reflect Australia’s emerging problem – the arrogance of elites and their disconnection from the broader community. This idea is taking hold; it is spreading across the nation. It will assume unprecedented prominence if the futile and endless celebrity ploys fail to persuade the public from voting down the voice referendum
The Australian
It’s just one of a growing firestorm of damaging issues engulfing a PM whose honeymoon is ending quicker than Britney Spears’.
Industrial relations reform has been labelled “unworkable” and is not guaranteed to pass the Senate, housing supply laws are at an impasse and the resources tax reform is in jeopardy.
Albanese himself is under pressure to explain the Qatar decision amid calls for it to be reviewed while his deputy faces questions over his extensive use of taxpayer-funded special purpose flights.
Then there’s the “Indigenous Voice”, with all polls are pointing to an ignominious defeat. A defeat that will blow up squarely in Albanese’s face: it was all his idea to foist it on voters with no prior warning.
The only reprieve, ironically, has been a pause in the current interest rate hike cycle. This will be a short-lived amnesty.
A new strategy will be required to address the danger that household anxiety swings to anger at the inevitable delay in them coming back down again.
The Australian
Australians aren’t forgetting in a hurry that Albanese promised not only “minimal change”, but, repeatedly, to lower the cost of living, especially household power bills. Now, household power has risen steadily since the election — and so has everything else — and Albanese is bragging about “changing the country” with a radical far-left agenda. Many recent home-buyers are already on the razor’s edge of defaulting: when — not if — interest rates go up again, many will have to sell up.
Their judgement will be brutal.