Qantas chair John Mullen says companies should steer clear of social causes like Indigenous voice

Qantas chair John Mullen says corporate Australia ‘did itself no favours’ by actively campaigning for the Indigenous voice to federal parliament – something his airline participated in.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese gives a speech at the launch of the Qantas “Yes” campaign in 2023. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Qantas chair John Mullen has warned companies to be wary of becoming involved in actively supporting social causes such as the Indigenous voice to parliament.

In an interview with The Australian ahead of a keynote speech to the Australian Institute of Company Directors on Tuesday, Mr Mullen, who took over as Qantas chair last year, said corporate Australia “did itself no favours” in actively campaigning for the voice.

“A lot of people saw corporate Australia lecturing them on what they should think (about the voice),” he said. “I think that’s where we (corporate Australia) made the mistake.

“Not that we supported the actual cause, but how we did it. How we lectured to people.”

Mr Mullen said people in the “bush and other communities” did not like to be told what to do by people from the east coast cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne.”

Mr Mullen, a former chairman of Telstra, who took over as Qantas chair following the early retirement of predecessor Richard Goyder, would not comment on the active corporate support given by Qantas for the voice in the 2023 referendum campaign.

Qantas received a backlash in some quarters for its active campaign for the voice under then chief executive Alan Joyce, who decided to paint some of its planes with the word “Yes” to support the campaign.

Mr Joyce unveiled the “Yes” logo at an event during the campaign with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

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Qantas chair John Mullen. Picture: Aaron Francis

I wasn’t at Qantas at the time, so I don’t think it’s my job to comment,” Mr Mullen said.

“I was at Telstra at the time and we supported the voice.

“But we debated it extensively.

“There were different views around the board table.

“Telstra was very involved at the time with rolling out mobile telephone coverage to Indigenous communities.

“We reached the conclusion that it was the right thing to do.”

But Mr Mullen said Brambles, a company he still chairs, had decided not to publicly campaign for the voice.

“There was a similar discussion, but there we felt it was the best thing for the company to make sure that employees were informed and had access to information and could make their own decisions.”

Mr Mullen said there was a difference between a company expressing its opinion on an issue and “actively campaigning” on it. He said it would have been “equally damaging” if companies had chosen to campaign against the voice.

He said companies these days often had to have a view on many social issues of the day.

“It is no longer possible not to get involved (in social issues of the day).

“In days gone by, you would just say ‘it’s a matter for government, and we’re not going to comment’.

“Employees want to know what the company stands for.

“It’s OK to have a view but I’d be very selective and not join every latest cause which comes along. These things have a habit of reversing over time with social trends.”

Mr Mullen said company directors and executives should “stick to what’s good for the company”.

“If you stick to the knitting as much as you can, in any business, it’s the best and safest option, without getting involved in stuff that isn’t really the day-to-day business of the company. “One just needs to be wary.”

Mr Mullen said the chairs of companies listed on the ASX and the chairs of their subcommittees should ideally live in Australia so they could keep an eye on local media and cultural sensitivities, and ensure their company was passing “the pub test” in what it did.

“No matter how smart or diligent you are, if you are living in another country and you don’t read the papers every day, you don’t read the commentary of the day, you don’t get the feeling of what is being discussed around the dinner table.

“You need that in order to discharge the ‘pub test’ side of it.”

Qantas and Jetstar aircraft stated the company’s position on the national referendum.

Mr Mullen said there was a swing against support for diversity and inclusion in the US under President Donald Trump.

“I’ve found that DEI and ESG has been positive for the companies I have been involved with – not to carry it to extremes but where it adds value,” he said.

He said people who were “preaching all these things from the rooftops and are now back-pedalling again never really believed it in the first place”.

Mr Mullen said company executives should “sit down and decide what is good for the company”.

“It doesn’t really matter what is the social event of the day. The Trumps of the world come and go. That shouldn’t be why you make a decision on DEI.”

While he said Australian companies were so far not following US companies in their swing against DEI, there were changes in the views of some big US investors in Australian companies.

Originally published as Qantas chair John Mullen says companies should steer clear of social causes like Indigenous voice