Qantas boss blasts ‘extremities’ on both sides of SSM campaign

Alan Joyce voices disappointment with the ‘‘tone from some elements’ on both sides of the SSM divide.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has hit out at ‘extremities’ on both sides of the SSM campaign at the launch of the airline’s new Dreamliner in Seattle. Picture: AFP

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has hit out at “extremities” in the tone from “some elements” of both sides of the campaign on same-sex marriage.

Mr Joyce, who has personally donated a reported $1 million to the Yes campaign and had promised his company’s support for the Yes vote, also reiterated his criticism of the decision to have the $122m non-binding postal vote rather than having a decision in parliament.

“Unfortunately I was disappointed with the tone from some elements on both sides of the campaign, at the extremities of it,” Mr Joyce told The Australian.

He said this had been “hurtful” for a lot of people and their families “in so many different ways”.

“And it’s a shame that it had to go through this,” he said. “I still believe that it should have been decided by parliament. But having said that, it’s gone to a survey I got behind as did Qantas and a lot of other companies. I think what’s great is that people are voting.”

He said that voter participation appeared to be higher than voter turnout during the Irish referendum on allowing same-sex marriage. So far, more than 62.5 per cent of Australians have voted in the same-sex marriage survey.

“And I’m hopeful that this will be a definitive answer one way or the other so that parliament will just get on and do the job,” he said.

“Because I think most people are fed up with this at this stage. They just want parliament to get on and do it’s job. I can’t wait until the vote is in and we have a determination and we can get the politicians to just go on and do what they are paid to do.”

Asked whether he had thought of reaching into his own pocket to provide even more financial support, he said: “We think the campaign and the effort that we’ve been putting in is appropriate.

“And I think there’s a lot of other people that have also contributed and continue to contribute. So I think the community is getting that. I think obviously we believe that the No side has more funding … but there are a lot of people dedicating their time and effort to this as well on the Yes side and I think that’s fantastic.”

Mr Joyce made the comments after unveiling Qantas’s first Boeing Dreamliner.

Earlier this year, Mr Joyce said that he wanted a “positive” Yes campaign on same-sex marriage.

Mr Joyce, who is openly gay, first spoke out on marriage equality a couple of years ago as the debate gathered steam.

Annabel Hepworth is visiting Seattle as a guest of Qantas and Boeing