Justice Lee looks ‘through a glass darkly’ at Qantas claims of culture change
The question of whether Qantas has actually changed, almost two years after the sudden departure of divisive former boss Alan Joyce, hung heavy over the judgment that saw the airline fined $90 million in penalties yesterday for illegally outsourcing 1,820 staff under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The figure took the total redress for the life-shattering cuts to $210 million. Compensation of $120 million was ordered by Federal Court Justice Michael Lee last year. That’s on top of the $100 million that Qantas was fined after being caught by the competition regulator for the selling of so-called ghost flights: available to book online but already cancelled by the airline.
As he pondered the airline’s behaviour and whether there was any true “contrition” in its growing number of apologies for its behaviour, Lee was scathing, dismissing Qantas’s pangs...
