Qantas Sale Amendment (Still Call Australia Home) Bill 2011

[Danger]

Tomorrow (Friday 4 November), the Senate's Rural Affairs and Transport Legislation committee will hold its second public hearing into the Air Navigation and Civial Aviation Amendment (Aircraft Crew) Bill 2001 and the Qantas Sale Amendment (Still Call Australia Home) Bill 2011. Information can be found here.

On 18 August 2011 the Senate referred the Air Navigation and Civil Aviation Amendment (Aircraft Crew) Bill 2011 for inquiry and report. On 14 September 2011, the Senate referred the Qantas Sale Amendment (Still Call Australia Home) Bill 2011 for inquiry and report. The Committee will inquire into the bills concurrently.

The Air Navigation and Civil Aviation Amendment (Aircraft Crew) Bill 2011 will require that Australian airlines and their subsidiaries provide pay and conditions for overseas-based flight and cabin crew operating on their flights that are no less favourable than if they were directly employed by the Australian airline.

Schedule 1 of the bill amends the Air Navigation Act 1920 to place a new condition on the international aviation licences held by Australian airlines or the subsidiaries or associated entities of Australian airlines. Schedule 2 of the bill amends the Civil Aviation Act 1988 to place a new condition on all new and existing Air Operator’s Certificates (AOCs).

With respect to this bill the inquiry will consider issues of safety (including fatigue), pay and working conditions and the effect on Australian jobs due to the use of overseas-based crew by Australian airlines and their subsidiaries.

The Qantas Sale Amendment (Still Call Australia Home) Bill 2011 seeks to amend the Qantas Sale Act 1992. The bill inserts a definition for "associated entity" into the Act, in line with section 50AAA of the Corporations Act 2001. The bill requires that:
• Qantas ensure that, of its facilities broadly, its principal operational centre is located in Australia;
• Qantas, as a parent company, ensure that its subsidiaries and associated entities – such as Jetstar – have its principal operational centre located in Australia;
• the majority of heavy maintenance of aircraft and the majority of flight operations and training conducted by Qantas or by its subsidiaries and any associated entities is conducted in Australia; and
• at least one of the Directors of Qantas has a minimum of 5 years' professional flight operations experience and that at least one of the Directors has a minimum of 5 years' aircraft engineering experience.

Currently the Qantas Sale Act only allows an application to the Court for injunctions by the Minister. The bill extends this to allow for applications to the Court by 100 shareholder members or shareholder members who hold at least 5 percent of the shares in Qantas.

​

It is a public hearing at Parliament House in Canberra beginning at 9am AEDT and will include representatives from:

• Virgin
• Australian Services Union
• Qantas
• CASA
• Transport Workers Union

I expect it will be broadcast on the web (Parliament of Australia: Live Broadcasting).

 

[serfty]

I believe ths bill is unlikely to pass given opposition from both Labour and Liberal. It's sponsored by the Greens and Xenephon in the senate. It will have it's time 'in the sun' before failing to pass ...


... in the meantime many will be fronting ...

 

[lovestotravel]

For the Qantas Sale bill what does it really mean Qantas can do ?

 

[serfty]

For the Qantas Sale bill what does it really mean Qantas can do ?

I believe it's to keep the Oz in Qantas!¹

The Qantas Sale Amendment (Still Call Australia Home) Bill 2011 seeks to amend the Qantas Sale Act 1992. The bill inserts a definition for "associated entity" into the Act, in line with section 50AAA of the Corporations Act 2001. The bill requires that:
• Qantas ensure that, of its facilities broadly, its principal operational centre is located in Australia;
• Qantas, as a parent company, ensure that its subsidiaries and associated entities – such as Jetstar – have its principal operational centre located in Australia;
• the majority of heavy maintenance of aircraft and the majority of flight operations and training conducted by Qantas or by its subsidiaries and any associated entities is conducted in Australia; and
• at least one of the Directors of Qantas has a minimum of 5 years' professional flight operations experience and that at least one of the Directors has a minimum of 5 years' aircraft engineering experience.

It's a fools paradise and most pollies of any persuasion know that ... such an act would force the airline out of business (barring any lunatic regulation)².

¹ The qantas sale bill restricts non Oz ownership to 49%.

² Such as Oz Govmnt imposing (for example) a Qantas preservation levy on any commercial flight segment operated within Australia. i.e. Your $60 MEL-SYD Tiger fare may increase to, say, $64 with the extra $4 going to Qantas.

 

[lovestotravel]

So it's the Greens living in their dream world again ? I should have known........

 

[Danger]

If anyone can think of any decent, reasonable questions that could be put to those witnesses who are appearing, please post them in this thread or PM me. I'm sort of/kinda/in a roundabout kind of way in a position to put some questions up. (Apologies for the late notice.) I will be following the hearing and will endeavour to post some information as it transpires, assuming it's interesting.

For the Qantas Sale bill what does it really mean Qantas can do ?

Basically, as far as I know, it essentially means that no more than 49% of QF can be foreign owned.

 

[Mal]

We really have coughs representing Australia. Very sad.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Princess Fiona]

We really have coughs representing Australia. Very sad.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

Yes Mal, I totally agree. I had a few days off this week and tuned into Question Time on ABC. A total rabble with a succession of Dorothy Dixers asked by various MP's and some nodding dogs on camera behind albo et al.
Mind you at least we have a democracy

 

[TonyHancock]

When will the grammatically correct version of the amendment be available? "Qantas ensure"???? If they can't even get the basics right what hope do we have?

 

[Happy Trails]

When will the grammatically correct version of the amendment be available? "Qantas ensure"???? If they can't even get the basics right what hope do we have?

I can assures you that it will be alright on the day.

 

[medhead]

For the Qantas Sale bill what does it really mean Qantas can do ?

Basically, as far as I know, it essentially means that no more than 49% of QF can be foreign owned.

That would already be in place due to the Qantas Sale Act. Not sure why this new bill would need to change that.

When will the grammatically correct version of the amendment be available? "Qantas ensure"???? If they can't even get the basics right what hope do we have?

Well that is from the commentary about the bill not from the bill itself. So bit hard to claim the amendment isn't grammatically correct.

 

[serfty]

That would already be in place due to the Qantas Sale Act. Not sure why this new bill would need to change that. ...

See the bolded bits.

...
The bill requires that:

• Qantas ensure that, of its facilities broadly, its principal operational centre is located in Australia;
• Qantas, as a parent company, ensure that its subsidiaries and associated entities – such as Jetstar – have its principal operational centre located in Australia;
• the majority of heavy maintenance of aircraft and the majority of flight operations and training conducted by Qantas or by its subsidiaries and any associated entities is conducted in Australia; and
• at least one of the Directors of Qantas has a minimum of 5 years' professional flight operations experience and that at least one of the Directors has a minimum of 5 years' aircraft engineering experience. ...
​

Such legislation would be the end of Qantas in its current form or put out it of business altogether by making them uncompetitive. (Unless additional costs of being forced to use Oz based operations such Salaries/Wages, work practices, rents, taxes, etc. are reduced significantly.)

​

 

[notzac]

When will the grammatically correct version of the amendment be available? "Qantas ensure"???? If they can't even get the basics right what hope do we have?

Expecting much of anything useful from our politicians is an exercise in wishful thinking! It bothers me somewhat that my tax payer dollars are being wasted on stuff like this.. :-|

 

[Mwenenzi]

...
The bill requires that:
• Qantas ensure that, of its facilities broadly, its principal operational centre is located in Australia;
• Qantas, as a parent company, ensure that its subsidiaries and associated entities – such as Jetstar – have its principal operational centre located in Australia;
• the majority of heavy maintenance of aircraft and the majority of flight operations and training conducted by Qantas or by its subsidiaries and any associated entities is conducted in Australia; and
• at least one of the Directors of Qantas has a minimum of 5 years' professional flight operations experience and that at least one of the Directors has a minimum of 5 years' aircraft engineering experience. ..

.

See the bolded bits.

Such legislation would be the end of Qantas in its current form or put out it of business altogether by making them uncompetitive. (Unless additional costs of being forced to use Oz based operations such Salaries/Wages, work practices, rents, taxes, etc. are reduced significantly.)

​

Or required exactly the same for ALL other airlines in Aust and those operating in/out of Australian airports
DJ do not do heavy maintenance in Aust & from newspaper reports pay maintenance staff & crew less

Should not the Government ensure an even playing field.
And as DJ do not have CL all pollies should loose the CL cards

 

[Danger]

Senator Xenophon is now questioning Alan Joyce on QF's accounts - its structure and reporting standards.

 

[Danger]

Senator Xenophon is querying how Joyce and QF can state that QF international makes a loss, given there is no separate QF international 'column in the ledger'. Xenophon has put to Joyce that the profit or not of QF international is subject to conjecture. Joyce denies this.

 

[medhead]

See the bolded bits.

I was specifically referring to the 49% ownership requirement as per what I quoted. As I understand that is already in place via the existing qantas sale act. I can't see bolding on iphone but none of the quoted text mentions the 49% ownership requirement as I read it.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[Danger]

Xenophon is questioning Bruce Buchanan on how the fuel bills are paid. Buchanan has said "absolutely, categorically that the fuel bills go to the airline who use the fuel".

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Just say no! :evil:

Basically anything that QF want changed is ultimately going to be a bad thing for both QF customers and employees. Where there's smoke there's fire & as always a sinister ulterior motive. A glaring example of lying by omission.

There is obviously something in the wording above that if changed would allow QF to have more pilots, engineers & flight attendants based offshore as long as they have a token 'principal operations centre' based in Australia which could be a little office with a couple of cardboard cut outs of people in it.

Sort of like when companies who have their head offices in the Solomons or Cayman Islands.

"Qantas ensure that, of its facilities broadly, its principal operational centre is located in Australia;"

Potentially all aircraft, pilots, flight attendants could be based overseas ie not Australian as long as there was one teeny weeny little office in Australia somewhere masquerading as a 'principal operations centre'.

"Qantas, as a parent company, ensure that its subsidiaries and associated entities – such as Jetstar – have its principal operational centre located in Australia;"

Same as for QF above however covers Jetstar plus any other new airlines such as Qantasia or whatever it's going to be called.

"the majority of heavy maintenance of aircraft and the majority of flight operations and training conducted by Qantas or by its subsidiaries and any associated entities is conducted in Australia;

They intend to outsource 49% of heavy maintenance & 49% of flight operations and training overseas for both QF & any of its subsidiaries.

"at least one of the Directors of Qantas has a minimum of 5 years' professional flight operations experience and that at least one of the Directors has a minimum of 5 years' aircraft engineering experience."

.....they may as well add 'previous experience at AN essential'
​

 

[Danger]

Xenophon notes today is the first anniversary of the QF32 incident. He is now asking questions about the Rolls Royce claim. Joyce said there was a claim with RR to the amount of $95 million, adding that the results of QF international would have been $95 million "worse" it it wasn't for this claim.