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Is our glass half full or half empty? According to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index, it's definitely half empty and continuing to drain. The index found consumer sentiment had slid for the ninth consecutive month in a row, thanks to a distasteful brew of surging living costs and interest rates. The index found consumer sentiment in July-August at its lowest ebb since the pandemic began. So, we're a nation of pessimists, right? Well, maybe not entirely.
ANZ's weekly survey showed a similarly steep fall in confidence but the bank reported that despite this household spending was still strong. David Plank, ANZ's head of Australian economics, told Reuters "high levels of household saving and a desire to travel [were] more than offsetting concerns about the rising cost of living". Whether this lasts remains to be seen but while it does Qantas needs to lift its game.
All winter, we've seen social media posts from Aussies lucky enough to get off the big island after two years of COVID confinement. Along with the happy snaps from Italy and Spain and France, though, have been the unhappy stories of lost luggage, delayed or cancelled flights, overseas strandings and heaving, chaotic terminals. It's a safe bet a consumer confidence survey about our national carrier would smell like the cattle-class dunny after a long-haul flight. That's why the airline, which sacked 1600 baggage handlers during the aviation shutdown in the pandemic, has asked its senior executives to help out with the loading of aircraft.
It's instructive for senior managers in any enterprise to occasionally pick up the tools. It provides an insight into the conditions and pressures workers face - to walk in their shoes - and might just encourage positive change. But this isn't the first time Qantas has leaned on its management ranks because of its decision to offload its baggage handlers, a move the Federal Court has said was unlawful. The airline has vowed to appeal that ruling and in the meantime will muddle its way through this mess of its own making by scheduling fewer flights and hiring more staff. The question the Transport Workers Union is understandably asking is, why doesn't it simply rehire the handlers it punted?
All through its post-COVID turbulence, Qantas has found new and more interesting ways to aggravate its customers - from losing their luggage to leaving them stranded to not communicating to passengers the reasons for their delays. But by far the most imaginative was chief executive officer Alan Joyce's bizarre blame-shifting exercise when the trouble began in Easter, when he said the travelling public wasn't "match-fit".
We'd pay money to see Joyce do a whole shift on the tarmac loading bags into the bellies of his aircraft. That would tell us who is actually match-fit and who isn't.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Has Qantas destroyed its once proud reputation? Are you hesitant to fly given all the airline horror stories? Is Alan Joyce "match-fit"? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Olivia Newton-John's life-saving contributions to cancer care and research will not be forgotten after a remarkable journey that inspired cancer survivors around the world. The Grease star-turned activist fought a public battle with breast cancer after her first diagnosis in 1992, and quickly became an advocate for cancer awareness and research. Newton-John's battle with cancer, including a mastectomy, radiation therapy, and a breast reconstruction, inspired her to create the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne.
- The Greens want a treaty with First Nations Australians as a condition of backing a referendum on a Voice to Parliament. Australia's third-largest party has outlined its negotiating stance on the proposed referendum, which could prove vital if the Coalition opposes the proposal.
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong has not spoken to her Taiwanese counterparts over fears of escalating Chinese aggression, but has called for "calm to be restored" in the region. Beijing has tested high-powered missiles in the Taiwan Strait and near Japan, launched in retaliation to US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan last week.
THEY SAID IT: "Is there any possibility of giving international air travel, which we all need and use and hate, a touch of glamour, or even of reliable, soulless efficiency? I suspect future historians will puzzle over our failure. But by then, of course, we shall be in the age of mass space travel, with its fresh and unimaginable crop of horrors." - Paul Johnson
YOU SAID IT: Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the furious Chinese response and whether we need to chart our own course in foreign policy got the burrow talking.
Deb is not sure how we should move in these perilous times: "Nancy deliberately poked the bear. Silly thing to do. I really don't know what is the best for Australia, it is in a precarious position. I am incensed by the mean and bullying attitude of China though. It's not just the trade wars, now they are saying they will determine the next Dalai Lama. The world did nothing when they invaded Tibet back in the '50s and they are still tramping all over the Tibetans. Honestly, if we don't collectively stand up to them will we be in a situation like Ukraine? Damned if we do, and damned if we don't. I think I would still fight for freedom though."
Frank is annoyed with Pelosi: "I find it extraordinary that we were nearly plunged into war on the whim of an 82-year-old woman who, as she reaches the end of her career as a politician, is trying to make a mark for herself in history."
John says we should stand up to China. "I'm 84. When I was a youngster in the early '40s a group of mainly academic 'appeasers' known as The Oxford Group was still holding meetings at a neighbouring house. Call them 'pacifists' or 'appeasers' or 'gutless idiots', even then (in 1944) they wouldn't accept the necessity for the allies to counteract Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. I find your attitude in today's Echidna article similar to that of Neville Chamberlain and The Oxford Group."
Colin echoed John's sentiment and applauded Pelosi: "First sign of strength and determination from the West since ScoMo was on the front foot. Some call it brinkmanship. Meanwhile, you seek appeasement which, history relates, signals weakness." That was not the intent at all, rather to suggest we were being propelled into dangerous territory by Pelosi and Xi, both of whom were playing to domestic audiences.
Ian says we should think carefully about our alliance with the US: "Every Australian, and particularly every federal politician, should read Malcolm Fraser's book Dangerous Allies. In fact it should be compulsory reading. The very thought of this country being dragged into a war with China over an historic anachronism, Taiwan, is unthinkable. And those who think that our foreign policy should still be 'All the way with (LBJ) USA' should reflect on what the Ukranians are experiencing, with the destruction of cities, infrastructure and the loss of innocent lives. Sydney, Melbourne exempt? I don't think so. It's not a computer game."
John says Hugh White is on the money in his essay Sleepwalk to War: "I agree 100 per cent with Hugh White. We should steer our own course and not be beholden to the US. Unfortunately, Morrison and Dutton in their arrogance and ignorance were conned into AUKUS, and Albanese in his terror of being wedged, agreed with AUKUS. All that will do is guarantee a nuclear US base in Australia and that will ensure we are in China's sights."
Anna is scared for young Australians: "Terrified for the young Australian people who might unnecessarily be called up to fight."
Annabel said: "I agree with your position about US and China. Chilling dangerous power play by both countries and people - Nancy and Xi."
Darrell says there's a cost to taking sides: "Damned if we do and damned if we don't if we're expected to take sides in a conflict between China and America. Personally I've learned to remain diplomatic in conflict as there are always two sides to every story. In this instance it appears to be an egotistical power struggle, in which there are never ever any winners whatsoever."
Ross says we should chart our own foreign policy: "Australia needs to form its own policy, not blindly follow the US. We should take the middle ground. War and talk of war make money for arms manufacturers. Many of them are American. Think about it."