Coronavirus: Scott Morrison taps unions, industry super on Virgin workers

Scott Morrison has urged industry super funds to help Virgin Australia survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Grounded Virgin Australia aircraft at Brisbane airport. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has urged industry super funds to help Virgin Australia survive the coronavirus pandemic, as he announced a $165m package to secure domestic flights across Australia.

The Prime Minister said it was time for the Transport Workers Union and other trade unions to play a more active economic role through their superannuation funds to protect the companies that employ their workers.

The push came after an agreement was reached between the federal government and the major airlines to subsidise flights ser­vicing “critical metropolitan and regional routes” for an initial eight weeks, starting on Friday.

Mr Morrison, who has resisted calls to bail out or partially nationalise Virgin, said industry super funds should look past the risk ­associated with struggling companies to put the interests of their members first. “The industry super funds in this country have got $3 trillion dollars worth of assets (and) here we’ve got a company that needs capital,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday night.

“Its own workers have been paying into industry funds and there are funds out there, in these super funds, that could be investing in a number of companies.

“Now, I appreciate that comes in a different risk premium, but this is their own contributors that are involved here. And I’d like to see the industry and broader superannuation funds playing a more active role in dealing with the economic issues that we’re dealing with at the moment.”

A range of unions cover Virgin workers including the Australian Services Union and the TWU. They back a number of industry superannuation funds.

Under the $165m rescue plan, the federal government will make sure that a minimum network of domestic services will continue to be operated by Qantas and Virgin Australia.

Regional centres included in the network are Albury, Alice Springs, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Kalgoorlie, Mildura, Port Lincoln, Rockhampton, Townsville, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said sustaining the aviation industry was critical to protecting livelihoods and saving lives.

Qantas and Virgin Australia had slashed domestic services to a bare minimum, with Qantas using just three aircraft to fly within Australia and Virgin operating only one route, Melbourne-Sydney, six times a week. The reductions followed strict travel bans by states and orders for people not to travel unless absolutely necessary.