In 1984, Australia’s flag-carrying airline, Qantas, began using the slogan “The Spirit of Australia”.
Given that Qantas has long ferried the nation’s Olympians to the Games, it had a certain narrative appeal for the average person in the street.
Fast forward to more recent years: Qantas received $2.7 billion worth of support from the federal government during the pandemic, including $900 million in JobKeeper payments.
In recent days, reports have emerged from the AFR that Qantas is in advanced discussions to outsource up to 1,000 positions to India as part of a deal with consulting firm Accenture.
As part of the plans, jobs in marketing, finance, human resources and other back-end office roles were set to be outsourced.
Qantas is not the only giant of the Australian corporate world outsourcing jobs.
Telstra – In February, it was reported that it would be outsourcing 650 jobs, with a spokesperson confirming some roles would be shifted to a “specialist hub” in India.
NAB – In March and May, it was reported by the relevant union that the banking giant would be reducing staff in its Australian business division while adding 237 jobs to its operations in India and Vietnam. The AFR has also confirmed that NAB could expand its existing Indian and Vietnamese outsourced operations by over 1,000 additional roles
Officeworks – In May, it was reported by ABC News that hundreds of IT, support and back office roles would be lost in Sydney and Melbourne, with a proportion of these expected to be outsourced to India and the Philippines.
Woolworths – In June, it confirmed plans to outsource a proportion of its 10,000 corporate staff. So far Woolworths has been tight-lipped on exactly how many jobs would be outsourced, but media reports suggest the figure is likely to be in the hundreds in IT, finance and human resources.
The Takeaway
For 42 years, Qantas has called itself the “Spirit of Australia” and, in many ways, that remains accurate.
Instead of being the chariot of the skies ferrying our Olympians and the medal hopes of a nation to the games, it is now arguably just as representative of modern Australia as it prepares to outsource up to 1,000 jobs.
For the longest time, Australia has persisted in the fantasy that we could remain globally competitive, even as the developing world became better educated and Australian operations became significantly more expensive.
Ultimately, as time passes, the urgency to confront this basic reality grows, particularly as the rise of AI further complicates an already challenging situation.
