Abbott denies prior knowledge of Qantas groundingThe Qantas political brawl has escalated dramatically with an extraordinary suggestion that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had prior knowledge that Qantas was to ground its aircraft.
Mr Abbott was forced to deny the claim in Parliament, saying he heard about the grounding only a few minutes before it came into force on Saturday.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese called a press conference to question why Mr Abbott suddenly changed his rhetoric on Friday to demand the Government intervene in the dispute.
Mr Albanese questioned whether Mr Abbott had been told about the lockout and grounding well before Qantas boss Alan Joyce told the Government at 2pm on Saturday.
Mr Joyce insisted the Qantas board only made the lockout decision on Saturday morning.
"Why did Tony Abbott change his position on Friday morning one day before Qantas says they made the decision to lock out the workforce and to shut down the airline at 5pm on Saturday?" Mr Albanese asked journalists.
And he made the extraordinary suggestion that the Opposition may have colluded with Qantas to "orchestrate" the lockout and grounding.
"Was Mr Abbott, his office or any colleagues in his party involved in an orchestrated campaign in the lead-up to this announcement with Qantas' decision they say was made on Saturday to lock out its workforce and to ground its fleet?" he asked.
"What contact did Mr Abbott or his frontbench have with Mr Joyce or [Qantas chairman] Mr Clifford prior to Qantas' announcement on Saturday?"
In Question Time, Prime Minister Julia Gillard stepped up the pressure on Mr Abbott, demanding he "tell the truth" and saying he was "in cover-up mode".
This morning, Mr Abbott was asked three questions by journalists about what he knew and when.
He was first asked when "on Saturday" he found out about the grounding, to which he replied "just before five o'clock".
But later in the press conference journalists asked if anyone from Qantas spoke to him or someone from his office "prior to Saturday" about a possible grounding, but he avoided the question.
The journalists persisted: "Was your office forewarned of the dispute - can you answer that?"
"My office was in regular contact with Qantas. Qantas, as anyone in Parliament House would know, have basically been patrolling the corridors of Parliament House for weeks now alerting people to the seriousness of the dispute," Mr Abbott replied before terminating the press conference.'Cover-up mode'Ms Gillard, in Question Time, applied more pressure to Mr Abbott.
"The Leader of the Opposition twice refuses to answer a question about when he knew when Qantas was going to lock its workers out and ground the planes," she told Parliament.
"When did the Leader of the Opposition know that tens of thousands of passengers were going to be stranded?
"He's in cover-up mode. He doesn't want to be asked when he knew, what he knew about Qantas. Did he know an hour before the planes were grounded? Did he know 24 hours before the planes were grounded?
"Did he know 48 hours before the planes were grounded? Did he ring up Qantas and suggest the planes should be grounded? Go out and tell the truth."
Government whip Ed Husic says Qantas' actions are a disgrace that represents "industrial bastardry".
"That is what it represented because they were prepared to put the public in front of a battering ram and to force them straight into the middle of an industrial dispute and not even care about the impact. It is simply a disgrace," he said.
But after Question Time Mr Abbott rose to make a personal explanation to Parliament, saying his office was first informed about the lockout at 4:15pm on Saturday and "I heard about it just before 5 o'clock".
"If I had prior notice to what Qantas was intending I would hardly have booked myself and my family on Qantas the following day," Mr Abbott told Parliament.
"So I suggest to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Transport they should stop fantasising about me and start apologising for the massive damage they've inflicted on the Australian public."
Opposition transport spokesman Warren Truss maintains the Government should have used its power under the Fair Work Act to immediately terminate the industrial action once it was told about the airline's plan to ground the fleet.
"Not only would Qantas have acted in a decent and responsible way not to have grounded its fleet had the Government actually taken the action available to it, under Section 4.3.1 of its own act, Qantas would have been prevented from locking out its employees," Mr Truss said after Question Time.
