Qantas has been in the news – generally for bad reasons… Although the airline recently announced a massive fleet renewal it has been in hot water for supporting the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and also for putting an expiry date on Covid-era refunds (which it has subsequently scrapped). Making the news last week was the ACCC’s lawsuit regarding cancelled flights and the gifting of a pass to the exclusive Chairman’s Lounge to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s son.
These events are wonderfully illustrative of Woke ‘Capitalism’ in Albanese’s Australia, as we merrily skip down the road to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ favoured ‘re-imagined Capitalism’ (aka Corporatism).
The central conundrum of Woke Capitalism is its unprofitability. Consumers often hate it. Heavily politicised, it can alienate half a company’s potential customer base – which is a bad move. Not to mention there is zero evidence that Woke diversity training programs improve productivity (there is evidence that suggests the opposite is the case). Woke employees are likely to spend lots of their time on social media or having histrionic tantrums over ‘microaggressions’ created by their colleagues. They do this rather than actually working.
It is always odd to watch corporations enthusiastically comply with government social agendas. Take, for example, the way American social media companies suppressed the Hunter Biden Laptop story. Ditto for the corporate embrace of environmentalism as a way to curry the favour of environmentalist administrations.
Qantas appears to be on a similar page.
Their open support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament is certainly something that aligns with Labor Party politics. Qantas’ stance on the Voice may alienate more than half of its potential customer base, but they continue to aggressively campaign for the referendum. So, is it good business?
While Qantas plays politics with virtue, the general population that will lose out. Qantas is waiting on its new jets to be delivered and its old A380s to be reactivated and refurbished. In the meantime, they will continue to enjoy record-high ticket prices in the presence of a travel-starved market including the absence of Qatar Airways competition. What Qantas needs is competition, not virtue-signalling.
