Qantas is the latest major corporation in Australia to announce a massive profit.
The airline posted a record $1.43bn half-year profit on Thursday, drawing accusations of profiteering from Labor senator Tony Sheldon.
“There’s nothing to celebrate in Qantas making massive profits by ripping off customers with extortionate airfares during a cost-of-living crisis,” said Sheldon.
The CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, described the result as a “huge turnaround” and defended ticket prices, which are still 20% above 2021 levels.
The record profit comes despite customer fury about service failures, lost bags and cancelled flights, as well as an ongoing industrial dispute over the sacking of 1,700 ground handler jobs in the early months of the pandemic.
In addition to Qantas, other major corporates in Woolworths, Coles, Santos, the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Medibank have all announced strong profits in the past fortnight. It’s worth noting that rising corporate profits were identified last year as a major factor in escalating inflation.
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Full Story
Queensland’s push to lock up more children
The state government has come under fire this week after announcing it would override its own Human Rights Act and implement laws that make breaches of bail a criminal offence for children. Why is it doing this? We discuss in this 19-minute episode.
What they said …
***
“We are seeing a greed-price inflation spiral.” – Sally McManus
A slew of big corporate names have posted strong profits amid high inflation, prompting the ACTU secretary to criticise corporate greed.
In numbers
That gap widens in the private sector to 19.2%, while male workers in the public sector earn 12.5% more than female workers in similar jobs.
Before bed read
Stand aside Covid vaccines, conspiracy theorists have found their new target: the 15-minute city. Apparently, some think improving neighbourhood amenities and services is a terrible idea. Our cartoonist, First Dog on the Moon, has some thoughts.
“Who could have a problem with better public transport and more time to spend at home?”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word: riva. You have five goes to get the longest word including today’s starter word. Play Wordiply.
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