Qantas CEO Alan Joyce calls on government over IR, red tape, green issues

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has used a key business address to call for action on climate change, industrial relations and red tape.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce says this year’s bushfires were the clearest sign yet that we ignore climate change at our peril. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has used a key business address to demand action on climate change, industrial relations and over-regulation as well as state border closures.

Federal Liberal senator ­Andrew Bragg invited Mr Joyce to deliver the Tony Shepherd Oration, intended as a platform for business leaders to take part in public policy formation.

In his speech on Tuesday night, Mr Joyce highlighted those areas in need of attention to accelerate the post-COVID recovery.

After delivering another swipe at Queensland and Western Australia for their “Rubik’s cube ­approach to state borders”, he called for greater flexibility and certainty in industrial relations policies. Mr Joyce gave the example of Qantas being able to immediately pause wage increases for executives as the airline’s revenue evaporated, but not for employees on enterprise agreements.

“We have to go through lengthy negotiations with unions and then a vote to change provisions that don’t work in a post-COVID world,” he said.

“That can take months or years, despite the complete mismatch between an agreement made pre-COVID and the state of the economic post-COVID.”

He also called for greater certainty by allowing businesses to negotiate longer-term agreements that better align with long-term investment decisions.

“(Currently) we can only negotiate enterprise agreements that cover three- or four-year periods, so there is significant uncertainty with one of the largest costs to the business, namely labour.”

Over-regulation was another threat to the recovery, with Mr Joyce taking aim at the additional scrutiny of airlines by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. A monitoring team, established at the request of the federal government, meant even more red tape and compliance for an airline, “on top of all our other challenges”, Mr Joyce said.

“We agree with the need for competition but the market has delivered this in spades over the past decade and there is no sign that’s changing,” he said.

“The last thing that businesses in any sector needs right now is more red tape, taking time and ­energy when we should be ­focused on recovery.”

Mr Joyce tackled the topic of climate change last, pointing out that “the bushfires at the start of the year were the clearest sign yet that we ignore climate change at our peril”.

“The world is becoming more ambitious in tackling climate change and so must we,” he said.

“Australia’s policy progress has been slowed by deeply partisan debates. We’ve let science lead the way on the pandemic, and it’s worked. Why should climate change be any different?”

He concluded with the observation that in two weeks, Qantas would turn 100 and the “timing could not be worse”.

“But we remain fundamentally optimistic about the future of Qantas, and much of that belief is because we know Australia will bounce back,” Mr Joyce said.

“We have the opportunity now to ensure that we accelerate the recovery through smart policy ­reforms that unlock investment and reflect the new world we’re living in.”