Closing international border ‘is not Anzac spirit’, say employers

Employers condemn closure of international borders as ‘one of the greatest public policy failures in this country’s history’.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar has slammed the Morrison government’s closure of international borders to returning Australians as “one of the greatest public ­policy failures in this country’s history”.

“My analogy is it’s not the Australian spirit, it’s not the Anzac spirit,” he told The Australian.

“This is Simpson staying in his bunker, with the donkey tied up to the post, saying, ‘I’m going to leave my mates out there swaying. I’ll get them tomorrow.’

“It’s not the Australian way.

“I think it’s been a sad chapter in terms of how Australians have looked at each other. It’s not ­really the values I would have expected from the Australia I know.

“Of course, people are concerned about their own welfare but I think we have to think about all Australian citizens and ensure we protect Australians wherever they are in the world.”

Scott Morrison announced last week that states would be able to reopen to international travellers in November once they hit 80 per cent vaccination targets.

Mr McKellar said he did not necessarily give the federal government a “whole lot of credit for reopening, but it is a step forward we have got to take”.

“I think it was one of the greatest public policy failures in this country’s history. To close the international borders to Australians was a grave error and we have got to move beyond that as quickly as possible,” he said.

“I just think it’s a fundamental right of any Australian citizen to be able to move in or out of the country freely. When many Australians were trapped overseas, when they needed to get back, rather than saying we reach out and we help our neighbour, we left them in the lurch.

“That’s a situation that should never have occurred. I think it was a policy failure at a federal level and it’s been reinforced at a state level. Passenger caps that have been put in place are part and parcel of that policy failure, which has been there for too long. It should never have happened.”

Mr McKellar returned to Australia in January after six years in Paris as secretary-general for automobile mobility and tourism at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body of world motorsport and leading network for touring ­organisations.

He and Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox on Wednesday criticised ACTU secretary Sally McManus after she said unions would be “turning up the heat” on employers as the economy emerged from the pandemic.

In an interview with The Australian, Ms McManus flagged more industrial action, picket lines and product boycotts to pressure com­pan­ies to offer more secure employ­ment conditions to workers.

Mr McKellar accused Ms McManus of kicking off a “new fear campaign” that was not in the national interest, and said the overriding priority should be to deal with the pandemic and get the economy reopened.

Mr Willox said the “ACTU threats of strikes, picket lines and boycotts in support of job security harks back to a bygone era which the vast majority of Australian employees sensibly left behind long ago”.

“Next they will be agitating for a return to the gold standard, the tariff wall and centralised wage fixing,” he said.

“Most employees recognise the only way of maintaining a genuinely secure job is through working with their employer to ensure the business remains successful and com­pet­itive.”

Mr Willox said casual employees were given “robust” conversion rights in March this year through casual employment amendments to the Fair Work Act.

“To date there is no sign of a widespread desire by casual employees to convert to permanent employment. All indications are the vast majority of casual employees have no wish to convert to permanent employment. They value the flexibility that casual employment offers,” he said.