PM: I've just finished the deliberations at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. During the course of the day I've been kept continuously informed about the circumstances with the Qantas dispute.
Clearly during the course of the today this dispute has escalated in a dramatic way. As a result of that dramatic escalation of the dispute, the Government has taken the decision, indeed a rare decision, that the Government has taken the decision to make application to Fair Work Australia to have the industrial action terminated and to have Fair Work Australia deal with this dispute.
This is an application rarely made but I believe it is warranted in the circumstances we face with Qantas. With the rapid escalation of this dispute today, what we are seeing is a circumstance with this industrial dispute that could have implications for our national economy.
Of course we are also seeing a circumstance where Qantas and its employees and trade unions continue to be in dispute, I believe Australians want to see this sorted out. Businesses want to see it sorted out, passengers want to see it sorted it out, I want to see this dispute sorted out. That's why we have approached Fair Work Australia under the Fair Work Act.
The urgent hearing that has been generated by our approaching Fair Work Australia will be conducted in less than an hour's time from now, that will be the first hearing of this matter.
So my message to Qantas, the employees and trade unions is: Australians do want to see this dispute sorted out. Qantas is an iconic Australian brand, it is the employer of thousands of Australians, thousands of people rely on it for their livelihoods and we do need this dispute to be brought to an end.
I'm happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) earlier as Tony Abbott claims?
PM: Well let's be very clear about the circumstances here. I understand Mr Abbott will do anything to pursue his political case for Workchoices and so he'll twist and turn, he'll misuse any circumstance to argue for Workchoices, I'll leave that to Mr Abbott.
Looking at the Fair Work Act and the tests for having Fair Work Australia deal with the dispute, I do not believe we reached the appropriate point in this dispute for Fair Work Australia to intervene until we saw the escalation of the dispute today.
JOURNALIST: Are you disappointed with the action by Qantas? Were you given any prior notice? And is this embarrassing for Australia given 17 world leaders are on Qantas flights and at the same time you're trying to promote Australia as a destination?
PM: Well Minister Albanese dealt fully with the question of notification from Qantas in his press conference today so it's not my intention to add to those remarks.
On the question of CHOGM and world leaders returning home at the end of the meeting; I myself briefed heads of government about the Qantas dispute during our meeting today. They took it in good spirits when I briefed them about it, they are working on alternate travel arrangements. Our staff who have made the arrangements for CHOGM are working to assist them to make alternate arrangements.
JOURNALISTS: (Inaudible)
JOURNALIST: Anthony Albanese encouraged the conclusion that this was a premeditated piece of action by the Qantas board, is that your conclusion?
PM: Well I've just said that I'm not going to add to the comments that Minister Albanese made in his press conference today about notification from Qantas.
Yes, Mark.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Alan Joyce today said that he was grounding the fleet from today as a precautionary measure because he was concerned about the actions of his staff. As a Labor leader do you think that is an appropriate suggestion for a CEO?
PM: Look, I'm not going to make conclusions about any of that, I'm actually not sure what you're referring to in your question. What I am doing is not looking at this dispute through the eyes of Mr Joyce or indeed one of the trade union leaders, I'm looking at this dispute as Prime Minister and its implications for the national economy. The dispute has escalated in a dramatic fashion today. I am concerned about the implications of that for the national economy so today in consultation with ministers I've taken the decision that we will approach Fair Work Australia to terminate the industrial action here and to bring the parties together to resolve this dispute. Fair Work Australia is the industrial umpire, it has powers under the Fair Work Act to deal with disputes that get to a stage that they do have these kinds of serious implications.
We have a bargaining system that works so parties bargain together and the system requires them to bargain in good faith. There is an ability for Fair Work Australia to deal with disputes that reach a major stage like this one. It is very rare for a government to make an application of this kind but we've chosen to do so in the circumstances of the escalation of this dispute.
JOURNALIST: Who's fault is it that it's escalated to this point?
PM: I'm not going to involve myself in making statements about either sides of the dispute. My message to everyone involved is that Australians want this sorted out.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) can you give Australians some idea then of when planes can be expected back in the skies, so what other steps from here?
PM: Well to be frank Chris that's a pretty silly question.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: It is a very silly question. Yes I take absolute responsibility for the Fair Work Act, I am incredibly proud of it. I'm incredibly proud of it because it introduced fairness into Australian work places and we ended forever the spectre that young Australians and Australians at risk would have an Australian Workplace Agreement shoved into their hands that ripped their penalty rates away or that they could be unfairly dismissed without reason, so I'm very proud of the Fair Work Act.
On the section that you refer to, the section in the Fair Work Act that we've relied on is substantially similar in its terms to sections that have been in earlier versions of workplace relations legislation and they enable the Fair Work Industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia, to deal with a dispute that has got implications for the national economy.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister (inaudible) when those planes will be up in the air again?
PM: Well let's just deal with the process here. We've made application to Fair Work Australia. They have called an urgent hearing at 10pm eastern states time, so that is less than half an hour from now.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) Alan Joyce or Qantas representatives and ministers of government including yourself. Have they ever asked you to intervene in this dispute and if not do you feel that they've done this to force you to intervene?
PM: I'm not going to get drawn on speculating about the motives of any parties in this dispute. My aim as Prime Minister is to see this dispute resolved, that's why we've taken the decision today for the Government to make application to Fair Work Australia.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: Well you can talk to Minister Albanese about his discussion with Qantas. Obviously in his press conference today he talked about notification from Qantas today. I have not been asked by Qantas to take the steps that Government has taken today.
JOURNALIST: Can you tell us anything of the alternative arrangements made for leaders departing?
PM: Look, we're looking at the full range of alternate arrangements. Clearly international flights from other airlines are still flying and so in the first instance what is being looked at is rebooking people on alternate airlines. I just want to be clear here, I have advised heads of government in the meeting today, they are looking to make their own arrangements but as you would expect we are standing by with our liaison officers ready to assist if they need that assistance.
JOURNALIST: If the dispute is not resolved do you still plan to go to the G20?
PM: Look my intention is to go to the G20. We have made this application today. Clearly I will monitor circumstances; the first hearing will be in less than half an hour of where we are now.
JOURNALIST: How much has this distracted your activities today and the CHOGM agenda?
PM: I'm well used to doing more than one thing at a time.
JOURNALIST: Unions have to give 72 hours notice when they conduct industrial action. Is it fair that the company pulled a wild card in industrial action of its own without any notice?
PM: Well I think you will find that the company gave notice about its final action and that was timed for Monday but look these are questions you can go through with Fair Work Australia, that's really not my concern. My concern, having heard that this was Qantas' announcement today and assessing what that would mean for the national economy, is that it was appropriate to go to Fair Work Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how embarrassing was it when you had to tell the world leaders that - find another way of getting home?
PM: Look, not at all. People took it in very good spirits. People have been aware that there has been industrial disputation within Qantas so I advised them that the disputation had taken a step up today and that we would work with people if they needed assistance to make alternate bookings. So people did take it in very good spirits.
JOURNALIST: Will that be including military planes if you can't get them home?
PM: We're working through the advice to me from the head of the CHOGM taskforce is we are talking about 17 heads of government who have bookings on Qantas. Now clearly there are more people in Perth for CHOGM than heads of government themselves so we will work through-
JOURNALIST: So you could charter a plane-
PM: Well I'm not going and I suggest it wouldn't be proper for anyone to speculate on these matters. We're working through a step at a time. The CHOGM meeting is still in session tomorrow so people in the ordinary course will be attending the session tomorrow in any event. People are predominantly travelling from here back overseas and as you would be aware there are other options and choices for international travel out of Perth.
Thank you very much.