Qantas takes support for the voice to parliament to the skies with ‘yes23’ livery
Qantas has not ruled out more measures to rally support for the voice after unveiling three aircraft bearing the Yes23 logo.
Qantas will not rule out further measures to drum up support for the voice to parliament after painting three of its aircraft with the “Yes23” campaign logo.
The Qantas Boeing 737, Jetstar A320 and QantasLink Dash 8 were unveiled at a major event in Sydney on Monday attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the voice architect Noel Pearson, former AFL star Adam Goodes and Qantas’ entire senior leadership team.
Outgoing chief executive Alan Joyce said they were backing the campaign because they believed “a formal voice to government would help close the gap for First Nations people in important areas like health, education and employment”.
“We’re doing that in a number of ways,” Mr Joyce said of Qantas’ support.
“First we’re helping the Yes23 team to get around the country and share their messages with people all over the Australia. We’re also helping the Uluru Dialogue to do the same thing.
“We’re also literally flying the flag — we have three aircraft with the Yes23 logo. These aircraft will cover a huge amount of the country — every major city, every major town will get to see this message.”
Beyond those measures, no decision had been made on other potential forms of support including in-flight announcements.
Mr Joyce said Qantas’ relationship with First Nations people went right back to their early days, when the airline’s founders were given assistance to locate suitable landing sites.
“Then of course Qantas was one of the first companies to have a reconciliation action plan,” he said.
“We have internships and trainee programs in schools to provide high quality jobs, and we also have a program working with First Nations suppliers.”
Qantas also introduced a brief “welcome to country” on its domestic and international flights in late 2021 in a move that won praise from the federal government.
Mr Joyce acknowledged that not everyone would agree with Qantas’ support for the voice, and said “we respect that”.
“I encourage people to find out more, to listen to First Nations voices and to make their own decisions,” he said.
Anthony Albanese told guests at the Qantas event he was proud to lead a government that would give “every Australian the opportunity to vote for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.
“The spirit of Australia says yes, and the spirit of Australia says yes because this will assist recognition in a practical way,” said Mr Albanese.
“Qantas has a long history of doing its bit to carry the nation, to lift all of us a little bit higher, both literally and figuratively and this is what this is about.”
Opposition transport and infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said Qantas’ actions “effectively marginalised” customers, shareholders and staff who planned to “respectfully vote no to constitutionally enshrined voice”.
“Corporates who support only the yes campaign legitimately risk alienating Australians who respectfully disagree,” said Senator McKenzie.
Other companies to publicly state their support for the campaign included the ANZ, Wesfarmers, Woolworths, Coles, Commonwealth Bank, Rio Tinto, BHP and National Australia Bank.
Virgin Australia recognised the “critical importance of the referendum for Australia’s reconciliation journey” but would not be taking a more public stance on the issue.
Instead the rival carrier was of the view that individuals should vote as they saw fit.
The Qantas backing came as the airline faced intense scrutiny of its close relationship with the federal government and Anthony Albanese.
It followed the government’s rejection of an application by Qatar Airways to operate more flights into the country, following Qantas’ objection.
Transport Minister Catherine King has struggled to explain why the decision was made, telling parliament last week it was “not in the national interest”.
Mr Joyce recently defended the relationship, and denied the government was in Qantas’ thrall, highlighting his opposition to multi-employer bargaining laws.
He also pointed out Mr Albanese had criticised Qantas when Mr Joyce grounded the airline in 2011 over industrial action by three employee groups.
Following the announcement, Qantas shares dipped slightly, closing down 1.5 per cent for the day at $6.39.
Additional reporting by Joe Kelly
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