GSOPM: &(
FOR~ 12DIh SUNDAY t'RC 5 l19 r1
ELECTOR1, TE TALK
Oni Friday, the Transport Worhers' Union rerloved the Iast
bans on Q n4 s. Qantas employees had voted enrlier in
the week to go back to work, and tile airline had been
getting back to normal operations. But the res-idual bans
W o~ f th e T;, rU -? ere still causing dIfficulties, and staff labour.
was still baving to be used.
NOw antas can proceed wthout distraction to try to make
good the damage that hias been done although some of the
dawrage will be permanent,
on behalf the GoverP-ment and th-e overvlhe'ljting ! r afority
of Auti want t thank QaTI4_ taS st,-aff 9.11 nan t-gement
for the ifiet tayIa tC they have 3kept Rus: txal. ia' Ilag
* carrier. C: _ rating in trele of grave awd serious-dif-flculti6B.
There ha-. e teeni reduced services,, buA't te effort. of the Staff
haeket-: 7nuctions to rd niu. Thist nchieve-n~ nt is Ean
-Ylor= oL. AzIblatae to all tosa h ~ sbe~ n~~~
~ ht. e piiciple f 07' wh ich Qantas was ficghtirntruchu he.-
dispute~ rt-and initact. it i s a % ri: at Zia iId
rrlu~ t Ibe m a intainea. This, prInciple isthat. Qarntasc tmust
xeserve the right td-u -e sta~ rf 1 ab our, in the fEace of indus't-ri. ll
and strikes, in order to I-eep. teairline f lying
for reasons of saifety an, for th-ovein70~ O~
oj%. the travelling pWt. Iic.
* Against the oo n d iii which theiaE -is a Proces3 ofJA
arbitration, against the background in whichi thsre ars dispute
settling procedures, .1 fail6. to understand wqhy th: e and oe
sections of thi*-union movement do so much to nrom-o inustin
disruption at great cost to their own n; erhers, at gzreat cos~ t
* to the reputatIon of Australia and the Australian co: 7!,'. unity
aa a whole.
Of course, Qantas must keep itz aircraft flying iti the face
* of Pstrikes.. The ovex-whelrnIng maxjority of Qentas MDl0ye
want to keep the aircraft fl~' ing. Unless a very -Acw people
are to obtain a totally uonreasonable powe;. to disriuptL Qztntas
opeatinstherigt o Qatast( o use Staf f labour in these
situtios mat ~ niintai'ned. And, of course, the Qanltas
boardc and rmanagement as well as Staff have st"_ uck] by th at
principle and they have not corjcedeed anything in relation to
-2-
During the dispute I appaaled to all th oS4-Mwho were involvecl
t-o thinlk of a ltYa'siinternational flag carrier.
* IQantas is a great airline that'is ow-nedl by the. Govarrnment on
behalf of the people in iAv~ tralia. As I hava said arid
cainot stress it too strongly it is time that Qantasl
service to hopublic and to Austral,' a was put f irat. It is
time for a I AutraLIjans to recogni~ e.-hat-our -widmental
interests eire held in common.
These irnterests are not competitive, but comple-mantary.
Anyon--who seek! Is to dayiiage Qartas by groounding its aircraft
d v. mzA ye s u-% s all3. The damage is not confined'to ths airline
or even j~ tto kutraliat s rep,-utation, but extends to the
Ausitralian people ill it5 entirety.
During the course of the dispute, the Government ordered
the to lift p-assengers across the TaSTman and the
ae Zea land government and the N ew Zealand ArForce gave
V-full co-ope ration in this airlift,
I antto ritlank both -the R;! LU and thlt New Zealand Airforce
f or what they did. Nearly 4,000 passenge-rst wera-t-3 -an spor ted
~ aTyeyn othav ejea the com1fort which the Qzuta
fleet provide_ S. 3ut they did have all the care anid considera
wh ich th e xi: Force was able to provide with t16he C130 Her-, cule
7~ i II have noc -ub that thsrelief ope! ration preveinted a
grn-deal 2: pexs. P.' l i-f~ ship. -It was an bpaxation
4. wh-h h af t-e fuT o~ b theAu; f2ian pe. ople it
cere-ty--prc-ashoese stranckd People who w'ere
fJlown hn
as o wouldl e:.: pec t. the RAAV which this year calebrat
its 60th anniversary did a great job.
At the eiid Of tbis dizpute, those who were striking ha ve
lyqainier3 nothing that vould ni have bEen opjan to them
i if sensible discuss~ on and nectotiation h-ad tadkertlae
T think we all hope-Z that betteir displute settling procedure3i
-jbetween Qan-tas and the ibniuns that represent its emPPloyeee13
vallve established n disculspsxons will be Continuiltg to
Qanltas set out-to defend a vital principle for the oparation
of the airline and -for the safety of the travelling publijc'
Qantas has conceded nothing of that QnasmdIrnipe
* it plain and the Goyarnnment fully sopportCed it in this
thhaatt wotild not-let go of that P-icpe
Yet the dispute went on, and only finally ended last Friday.
How many thousainds of dollarg have been lost inl wages?
lfow -much harm h-as been done to family, budge"--s? Only Uie
individueils-and familiers concerned will actually know.
Parahips -here is a lesson in3 this for a great. many other
peolear fomthose;: vho were involved in this dispi -te-
Lvt me szny again that it is tivie for all o. l' us to put Austra)
fi rot. It is necessary for all of -up, to underctand what is
important for this nation, wha-t is essentia o rgest
continur_-anid for the well-being of all Australians 1: o recai
proper care and attention. h Lt j Ofl
: 3 a 1.
I don". t
to look
We can
Optimfis bacause
ia con( r
We all
j~ fe a
We all
it s t
actions -3
an unparallele6 future in front of ~ is.
know any other country bet1ter placed than Australia.
bolaly at the 1980s.
face the. future with tre mendous confidonce and
m. -: If we fail it Oill be hectiuse of ourselveswe
have not been able to act as one people uni . ted
on purposes,
ow. e7 Australia sormeithing better than the kind of
tiofl wich has plagu-3d Qaritas for tie last three-
Lfd whi ' c is so prevalenit in other zlreaEs of natio-nal
this time.
know that our fel, 17w Australians deserve s ome th in g
than this.
: ime to take stook andl ask howrour own individual
afrfee cing ustali~ a and the future of our fziis
I,