Men Who Killed Qantas - Matthew Benns [75]
Robertson sold the tawdry tale of her tryst with Fiennes to Fleet Street, women’s magazines and television, including Channel 9’s 60 Minutes. But her position as a bankrupt, after losing an expensive negligence battle with the police force, meant she was not allowed to keep the money. In fact, she had her home raided by the tax office.
It is safe to assume Qantas hated the mile-high publicity, especially as the incident spawned a host of anecdotes about mid-air sex, providing journalists with an excuse to bring up high jinks such as Kylie Minogue’s romp with the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence while then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke sat a few rows in front. More importantly, the embarrassing scandal for Qantas left several difficult questions unanswered, not least of which was whether Robertson’s managers should have known about the perilous financial and mental state of one of their employees, who in the course of her duties was responsible for the lives of hundreds of passengers should an emergency occur.
In a statement in response to questions about Lisa Robertson, the airline said previous employment and medical checks were carried out on all applicants, which included a ‘check for relevant pre-existing mental illnesses which could impact on a person’s ability to perform the role of a flight attendant.’ It was still using the agency Maurice Alexander Management, which employed Lisa Robertson, and was happy that cabin crew were paid competitive salaries.
A big company like Qantas is always going to have its fair share of scandals, what the press office might call public relations issues. That is why Qantas hired David Epstein, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s former chief of staff, to be the new head of corporate affairs, reporting directly to the CEO. His first job as spin-doctor-in-chief in November 2008 was to hose down outrage at his appointment. The Coalition’s Special Minister of State, Michael Ronaldson, said the appointment was in direct contravention of the new Labor government’s lobbyist code designed to prevent political advisors from cashing in on insider knowledge when they joined the corporate world. ‘Kevin Rudd’s former right-hand man is taking a lobbyist job on the very issues he has inside information on,’ said Mr Ronaldson.5
Epstein denied there was any hypocrisy over a potential breach of the lobbyists’ code. ‘I’ve not had any substantive involvement in issues touching Qantas, and it was only on that basis that I accepted their approach for the role,’ he said. ‘There was no involvement with Qantas. The prime minister was not involved and was not aware of any discussions I had with Qantas.’ And Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon was quick to point out the undeniable benefits to the company: ‘Mr Epstein comes to Qantas with a strong background in government, media relations and public affairs, most recently as chief of staff and principal adviser to the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.’6 Exactly.
Mr Epstein was quick to find his corporate feet. On Monday 30 March 2009 he took an exasperated tone that implied a close affiliation with passengers when ground crew walked off the job, plunging the domestic and international terminals into chaos. The Transport Workers’ Union was angry that jobs were being outsourced and feared that a quarter of private contract employees would not have security clearance before they started work at the airport. Mr Epstein dismissed their claim. But then he found himself having to defend the company decision to dock workers’ pay by four hours which, in turn, caused the industrial action to last longer than the union planned. Mr Epstein was unapologetic: ‘There were no grounds for the action and they’ve chosen to do it and there are consequences for that sort of thing,’ he said. ‘The law is quite simple: if people walk off in unauthorised industrial action, they don’t get paid for four hours.