By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Appearances by former boss Alan Joyce have been rarer than an all-points booking to London during the European summer since he quit Qantas in the full glare of public opprobrium.
Despite possessing a corporate ego more robust than the fuselage of a 787 Dreamliner, Joyce eventually buckled in September 2023 under the weight of a succession of scandals, including regulatory legal action over allegations of selling tickets for cancelled flights, a backlash over expiry dates on millions of COVID-19 flight credits, bad form over $2.7 billion JobKeeper handouts, and the sacking of nearly 2000 baggage handlers during the pandemic, subsequently ruled illegal.
Ready to talk, for a fee.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
But the signs are now unmistakable the Irish-born executive, 59, who calls Sydney home, is preparing to return from his self-imposed 15-month holiday on Elba. He has, you see, a lot to give.
Joyce has big plans to … hit the celebrity corporate speaking circuit. And he has already scored a gig.
“Yes, he has bookings,” his ebullient manager Robert Joske told CBD.
Joyce, never to do anything by halves, has signed up with three speakers’ agencies.
Keynote Entertainment said Joyce is an “engaging and dynamic speaker … Alan combines sharp business insights with Irish storytelling charm”.
Saxtons Speakers Australia said he had an “unwavering commitment to diversity” and included him on its roster of Pride Month speakers including Khanh Ong, Tim Campbell, Ian Thorpe and Gina Chick.
Ovations said the Dubliner was a “gifted keynote speaker ... Alan combines sharp business acumen with engaging Irish storytelling” which we feel we have kinda read somewhere before.
Joyce will be the star turn at the Australian Aviation Summit next month, Australian Aviation reports, adding it was “a rare opportunity to gain exclusive insights from a prominent aviation leader who has reshaped our industry”.
We can’t argue with that.
Travel hacks
Staying with Qantas, just when the national carrier was starting to shrug off a reputation for rank incompetence and consumer dissatisfaction during Joyce’s final years in charge, millions of customers had their data stolen in a cyberattack last week.
That included details of members of Qantas’ notorious Chairman’s Lounge, the invite-only club that includes all federal MPs, judges, senior public servants, and corporate leaders who can’t afford to fly private.
But CBD hears that for a fair chunk of Chairman’s Lounge members, the amount of data revealed was far broader than originally reported. Some Chairman’s Lounge members received correspondence from Qantas last week informing them that their name, gender, home address, mobile number and frequent flyer details had all been compromised.
That combination of information in the hands of cybercriminals could leave some of the country’s most powerful people vulnerable to a spear-phishing attack, where hackers pose as trusted sources to extract sensitive information.
Is it just us, or have readers also experienced an uptick in scamming calls since the great Qantas data hack? We are still waiting for the man from “PayPal security” who addressed us by first name to phone us back after he had the temerity to call us on deadline last week.
No posting
Fresh from winning a 94-seat election landslide, those who make up Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s operation have many reasons to be cheerful.
Or so we thought. Silly us. But with the Liberals crushed, and parliament’s return still a week away, the PM’s Chief of Staff Tim Gartrell has found a new enemy within: LinkedIn. Regular readers of this column would know that there’s been a flurry of prime ministerial staffers dashing for the exits in the post-election period.
That includes press secretary and ex-Guardian political editor Katharine Murphy, fellow media adviser Stela Todorovic and strategic communications director Katie Connolly.
Many others have taken to LinkedIn and Instagram to pen lengthy farewells to life in politics, often featuring happy behind-the-scenes snaps with the PM. And we don’t blame them. As much as CBD likes to make fun of lanyard-toting staffers, theirs is a gruelling, emotionally draining job. If our newly funemployed hacks want to adorn their LinkedIn profiles with a potentially salary-enhancing prime ministerial selfie, let them cook, we say.
But CBD hears Albanese’s top aide Gartrell, famed for past glories such as the Kevin 07 Ruddslide election and the Yes campaign for same-sex marriage, has always taken a weirdly dim view of staffers glamourising their lives on social media.
This all resurfaced at a PMO all-staff meeting last Friday, where according to some attendees, Gartrell made clear his displeasure about his comrades’ posting on LinkedIn and Instagram.
We know Labor wants to ban social media for under-16s, but didn’t realise some wanted to extend it to the PM’s own staff.
However, another source close to the PM’s office told CBD that Albanese’s chief of staff had simply reminded colleagues of their obligations under the ministerial staff code of conduct, which maintains that they must “be mindful that social media is publicly accessible and ensure their personal social media use is consistent with these standards”.
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