Qantas hit with $90m penalty after illegally firing ground workers
Catie McLeod
Qantas must pay a $90m penalty for illegally firing more than 1,800 ground workers during the pandemic, taking the full cost of its controversial outsourcing decision to more than $200m.
Justice Michael Lee handed down his decision on the airline’s penalty in the federal court in New South Wales.
Lee said the carrier would have to pay “no less than $90m” which he said was “slightly less than 75% off the maximum penalty”, and that $50m of the penalty would go to the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU).
He reserved his decision on to whom the $40m balance should be paid. Lee described the lengthy legal battle between the TWU and Qantas as “no ordinary case” and said:
As to whether Qantas is truly contrite or rather engaging in performative remorse, I have hesitation in reaching a conclusion.
I do think persons of responsibility within Qantas do now have some genuine regrets, but this more likely reflects the damage this case has done to the company, rather than a remorse for the damage done to the affected workers.
Lee’s decision comes about nine months after Qantas and the Transport Workers’ Union agreed on a $120m payout for the sacked workers.
Qantas is due to release its financial results for the past year on 28 August, and the true cost of the outsourcing saga has far eclipsed the $70m the carrier had previously budgeted to cover it.
Updated at 20.45 EDT
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Josh Bornstein, a barrister representing the TWU, called the ruling the “darkest day in Qantas’ 105-year history’.
Head of Transport Workers’ Union says $90m Qantas penalty reflects ‘gravity’ of airline’s actions
Michael Kaine, the national secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union, just spoke after the historic penalty levelled against Qantas today.
Kaine said the workers impacted have been through “hell and back”, calling the $90m penalty the “most significant industrial outcome in Australia’s history”. He said:
Justice Lee has absolutely smashed Qantas today for its illegal conduct and rightly so. This penalty of $90 million, an unprecedented amount for an industrial breach, reflects the gravity of this. This is the largest breach in industrial relations history and it devastated these workers and their colleagues and their families. …
It sends a really clear message to Qantas and to every employer in Australia – treat your workforce illegally and you will be held accountable. Yes, we do feel vindicated today.
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 21.19 EDT
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist says he is ‘very grateful’ to be granted asylum in Australia
Ted Hui, the former pro-democracy Hong Kong legislator who was granted asylum in Australia this weekend, said earlier this morning he is “relieved” after the decision.
Hui has been living in Australia for four years and said the protection visa extends to his wife, children and parents. He has faced intimidation and police bounties of nearly $200,000 over his vocal criticism of Hong Kong and Beijing authorities. He told RN Breakfast this morning:
It means we can be relieved because we’ve been living here more than four years without knowing which country we’ll be staying and where we’ll be studying, working, and my parents, whether they will end up here. …
We have the answers now, so we have the assurance that we will be protected by the Australian government. So that’s why we are very grateful to the government and the people here.
Ted Hui. Photograph: James Gourley/EPAShare
More on last night’s deadly shooting outside a Sydney pub
New South Wales police just shared some more information after a deadly shooting outside a pub in Sydney’s Forest Lodge last night.
Det Supt Alfio Sergi said “numerous” shots were fired outside the Harold Park hotel, with some being described as “whizzing by” a woman working there while she was picking up glasses outside. One man was killed and another is in critical condition who has just finished a second round of surgeries this morning.
The scene outside Harold Park hotel in Sydney’s Forest Lodge. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Sergi said during a press conference it was an “extremely dangerous” situation with narrow streets around the area. He said the investigation is in its early stages, but he believes it was a “targeted attack”:
Obviously we’ll be looking at the links with organised crime networks, that will be a focus of our investigation.
Police are appealing for information as they search for the alleged perpetrator.
Updated at 21.19 EDT
Qantas hit with $90m penalty after illegally firing ground workersCatie McLeod
Qantas must pay a $90m penalty for illegally firing more than 1,800 ground workers during the pandemic, taking the full cost of its controversial outsourcing decision to more than $200m.
Justice Michael Lee handed down his decision on the airline’s penalty in the federal court in New South Wales.
Lee said the carrier would have to pay “no less than $90m” which he said was “slightly less than 75% off the maximum penalty”, and that $50m of the penalty would go to the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU).
He reserved his decision on to whom the $40m balance should be paid. Lee described the lengthy legal battle between the TWU and Qantas as “no ordinary case” and said:
As to whether Qantas is truly contrite or rather engaging in performative remorse, I have hesitation in reaching a conclusion.
I do think persons of responsibility within Qantas do now have some genuine regrets, but this more likely reflects the damage this case has done to the company, rather than a remorse for the damage done to the affected workers.
Lee’s decision comes about nine months after Qantas and the Transport Workers’ Union agreed on a $120m payout for the sacked workers.
Qantas is due to release its financial results for the past year on 28 August, and the true cost of the outsourcing saga has far eclipsed the $70m the carrier had previously budgeted to cover it.
Updated at 20.45 EDT
BlueScope profits tumble to about a tenth of previous year
Luca Ittimani
Australia’s largest steelmaker, BlueScope, repeated calls for an east coast gas reserve after reporting that its profits tumbled to $84m in 2024-25, just over a tenth of the previous year.
The company, which is leading a bid for the struggling Whyalla steelworks in South Australia, saw its net profit after tax fall from 2023-24’s $806m after taking a $440m hit to the underperforming coated steel products arm of its American business. Sliding global steel prices also dragged down revenue.
BluesSope still earned most of its revenue in the US, producing nearly 3m tonnes of steel at its North Star mill in Ohio, which was boosted by Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, later hiked to 50%.
The company’s annual report, released this morning, did not point to significant tariff impact on its Australian business, which saw lower earnings as prices slipped, despite rising domestic sales due to increased construction work.
The Whyalla steelworks in Whyalla, South Australia. Photograph: Isabella Ward/AAP
BlueScope remains interested in expanding locally by buying out the Whyalla plant. The company earlier in August announced it was leading a consortium but would only make an offer if it could see a return on investment. Bluescope told investors it had submitted a non-binding, indicative expression of interest and believed the plant had potential for low-emissions iron productions.
But the company gave a warning to investors (and the Albanese government): “NO GAS, NO ‘FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA’”. Electricity costs also dragged down BlueScope’s Australian earnings in the 12 months to June, seeing it repeat its calls for an east coast gas reserve and criticise the sector’s current approach: “prioritising massive exports over domestic market, since 2015”.
Updated at 20.36 EDT
Andrew Pulver
Terence Stamp, star of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, dies at 87
Terence Stamp, one of the stellar faces of British 60s cinema, who had a second act from the late 1970s as a character actor in the likes of Superman: The Movie, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and The Limey, has died aged 87.
His family said in a statement that he died on Sunday morning. “He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer, that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come,” they said. “We ask for privacy at this sad time.”
Photograph: AJ Pics/Alamy
Stamp became one of British cinema’s glamour figures in its most fashionable decade, scoring early high-profile roles in Billy Budd and The Collector for the directors Peter Ustinov and William Wyler respectively.
In 1994 he played the trans cabaret performer Bernadette Bassenger in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, for which he received Bafta and Golden Globe nominations, followed by a lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s revenge thriller The Limey.
The subsequent decades saw more high-profile castings as interest grew in his earlier work, including roles in Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Wanted and The Adjustment Bureau.
Read more here:
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Lisa Cox
Environment groups say nature ‘too important’ to leave out of reform conversations
The environment sector, which has been given limited representation at the summit, held its own roundtable last Friday. A representative from Watt’s office attended. The groups said half of Australia’s GDP and 75% of export earnings were reliant on nature.
Dr Jody Gunn, the chief executive of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, said:
Nature’s economic role is too important to leave out of national reform conversations. If we ignore nature, productivity suffers. If we invest in the solutions it brings, we all win – with stronger regional economies, better disaster resilience, and healthier communities.
Updated at 20.13 EDT
Conservation groups call for better representation at economic summitLisa Cox
Twenty of Australia’s leading environment groups have written to treasurer Jim Chalmers asking for better representation for the environment at this week’s economic roundtable.
The groups, including the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, BirdLife Australia and WWF Australia, warned that without nature-based investment and reform, the ongoing decline of Australia’s natural capital would erode productivity, economic growth, and disaster resilience.
In a communique to Chalmers and environment minister Murray Watt, they’ve called for measures including:
Phasing out subsidies that harm nature.
Strengthened environment laws and an independent environmental regulator.
Treating nature like other critical economic assets by measuring and maintaining its condition and forecasting how its loss will impact jobs, exports, and the cost of living.
More nature funding from both government and business.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 20.12 EDT
Stephanie Convery
Most Australians think climate crisis making cost-of-living rise
Three-quarters of Australians believe the climate crisis is increasing the cost of living, and nearly two-thirds think coal, oil and gas companies should pay for the damage they’ve caused, new polling suggests.
Timed for release ahead of this week’s economic reform roundtable, the Essential polling was commissioned by the Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance, a new coalition of environment, aid, political and social justice organisations, including Oxfam Australia, Greenpeace, Climate Action Network Australia, Uniting Church of Australia, Human Rights Law Centre and more.
Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
The alliance is calling for the Australian government to enact a climate pollution levy on coal, gas and oil corporations, and says the money raised from the levy should be put into a climate compensation fund to “meet the needs of communities on the frontline of climate impacts, and support everyday households facing rising costs from climate change and the clean energy transition”.
Essential surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2029 Australian residents aged over 18 in June and found that 77% of respondents accepted that major fossil fuel companies are contributing to climate change, 83% believe climate change is increasing the cost of insurance premiums and food prices, while 75% believe it is increasing the cost of living overall.
Some 62% of respondents thought fossil fuel companies should pay for climate damage.
Julie-Anne Richards, from Make Polluters Pay Alliance, said in a statement:
Australia’s coal, oil and gas corporations are making around $370 billion in revenue per year, but often pay little or no tax. They are pushing the costs of the climate pollution they produce and the climate change it creates onto communities. Everyday Australians are paying through higher insurance, food and other bill costs, as well as the costs of recovery from climate disasters. It’s time these big corporations pay their fair share.
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Kate Lyons
Man dead and another wounded after shooting outside Sydney pub
One man is dead and another has been taken to hospital with serious wounds after a shooting outside a Sydney pub.
Emergency services were called to the Harold Park hotel on Ross Street in Forest Lodge in Sydney’s inner west at about 6.40pm on Sunday.
New South Wales police said two people had been shot multiple times by unknown assailants who left the scene by car.
One man died at the scene while a second was treated by paramedics for gunshot wounds before being taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Read more here:
Updated at 19.24 EDT