The Greens are calling on Qantas to pay back the $2.7 billion in public money it received during the Covid pandemic, and requesting that the federal government consider taking Qantas back into public ownership to protect consumers and workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On ABC Radio this morning Jim Chalmers has ruled out asking Qantas to pay back their Covid subsidies worth $2.7 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qantas has just posted a record profit of $2.47 billion. The Federal government also recently denied an application from Qatar Airways to add 21 weekly flights, after opposition to the proposal from Qantas. This decision comes after revelations that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese\u2019s son was granted free membership to the Qantas Chairman\u2019s Lounge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Court also found in 2021 that Qantas illegally sacked 1,700 ground staff during the pandemic. Qantas is now challenging this ruling in the High Court. \u201cDuring the pandemic, Qantas was given billions in government handouts and it turned around and sacked thousands of workers and outsourced to labour hire firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow that Qantas is posting record profits, it\u2019s only right that they should pay back the $2.7 billion in public money. If they refuse, the Labor government should consider taking Qantas back into public ownership to keep prices down and protect workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cQantas\u2019s record profits are off the back of ballooning prices for flights during a cost of living crisis. Instead of that money going to CEO bonuses and share buybacks, it should be going to paying workers, improving their conditions, and making flights cheaper for everyday people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s galling to hear the Treasurer on radio this morning running defence for Qantas\u2019s profits instead of holding them to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople are right to be suspicious of Labor\u2019s dealings with Qantas after revelations that the Prime Minister\u2019s son has been granted free membership to the Qantas Chairman\u2019s Lounge, while the recent decision to block Qatar Airways and secure further monopoly status for Qantas has been made with no scrutiny or clear justification.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Greens are calling on Qantas to pay back the $2.7 billion in public money it received during the Covid pandemic, and requesting that the federal government consider taking Qantas back into public ownership to protect consumers and workers. On ABC Radio this morning Jim Chalmers has ruled out asking Qantas to pay back their … Continue reading “GREENS CALL ON LABOR TO CONSIDER RENATIONALISING QANTAS IF IT REFUSES TO PAY BACK COVID SUBSIDIES”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22532,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22531\/revisions\/22532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP, Greens spokesperson for Transport, Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n