Talkback king Alan Jones rips into Qantas over PC hypocrisy on gay issues

Alan Jones has come out swinging in The Australian over Rugby Australia’s discrimination upset, accusing Aussie flagship airline Qantas of rank hypocrisy in its handling of the issue.

For those not following the debate, the potted version is this: Rugby star and devout Christian Israel Folau tweeted that he believed homosexuals would go to hell, comments that angered many LGBTI rights’ activists, as well as some of RA’s corporate sponsors. Those corporate sponsors include Qantas, which has a CEO, Alan Joyce, a gay man who is prominent in the LGBTI rights debate, and which as a company was a strong supporter of same-sex marriage legalisation in 2017. Qantas reportedly threatened to remove sponsorship from RA unless it acted on Folau’s comment. Folau refused to retract his comment, despite pressure from the RA, and was not sanctioned. But Qantas and the RA put out statements condemning his comments. Folau is now reportedly threatening to leave rugby for the NRL.

Talkback king, Jones, a huge rugby fan who once coached the Wallabies, has already had one go at the fact that rugby big-wigs were more interested in acting as thought police that in getting the game back on track after a long streak of losing games and fans. But now he’s doubled down with a series of criticisms, in which he questions the very right of Australians to free speech.

Jones noted that he didn’t personally agree with the rugby player over the divine retribution in waiting for homosexuals, but that he believed Folau was entitled to his view. And Jones said that the furore over Folau’s comments has “nothing to do … with gays or with the Bible”, but about the desire that some Aussies now hold to dictate how others think and speak.

https://twitter.com/AlanJones/status/983472702903042048

“This is about the stuff that men and women went to war for and gave their lives to defend,” Jones said in a lengthy comment piece in The Australian on Friday. “It is simply called freedom, in this case freedom of speech, and Folau, along with every other Australian, ought to be free to express his views.”

Qantas, he wrote, clearly believed in its own right to have its view on what was appropriate commentary on LGBTI issues accepted, yet it did not extend that right to Folau, Jones went on. Then he went for the killer blow, questioning why the airline maintained a partnership with Emirates Airlines, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment.

“Qantas finds the comments disappointing. I beg your pardon? Aren’t Qantas in partnership with Emirates Airlines and aren’t the Islamic injunctions against homosexuality in the United Arab Emirates totally oppressive of homosexuals?” Jones questioned. Indeed, some of the militant Muslims urge homosexuals should be put to death. So do I have this right? It’s OK for Qantas to have a partnership with such a company, yet they want to beat the drum about something Israel Folau has said.”

Jones isn’t the first person to publicly accuse Qantas of double standards in the debate. Columnist Rita Panahi wrote in the Herald Sun on April 10 that the airline’s “corporate virtue-signalling on LGBT rights” rang hollow when it maintained a partnership with Emirates. Emirates is owned by the Dubai government, which is part of the UAE. In theory, in the UAE homosexuals can face the death penalty, although it’s unclear whether this sentence has ever been enacted.

“Preaching love and acceptance and campaigning for the Yes vote in the same-sex marriage postal vote doesn’t mean much when you turn a blind eye to the worst type of intolerance and oppression when it is commercially convenient,” Panahi wrote.

Qantas’ sponsorship of RA is due to run at least until the end of 2020, according to The Australian. The company declined to offer a comment to Starts at 60 on the issue of its partnership with Emirates. 

Emirates Airlines has previously been accused of mistreating LGBTI passengers and flight crews, and actress Jennifer Anniston was criticised in 2015 when she became a spokesperson for the airline, which many gay publications dubbed a “homophobic” airline. At the time, Emirates said that it adhered to anti-discrimination employment law in each country it operated in.

Do you agree with Alan Jones on this issue? Should sports stars be responsible for reflecting the inclusion policy of their code? Should Qantas butt out of rights debates and focus on flying, or is the view of a big Aussie corporate a valuable addition to the discussion?