Qantas chairman John Mullen has signalled a shift away from the airline’s previous stance on social activism, arguing that corporate Australia has overstepped by taking sides on contentious 'woke' issues.

Mullen, who was not with Qantas when it backed a Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, said businesses "did itself no favours" by engaging in political debates.

“A lot of people saw corporate Australia lecturing them on what they should think (about the Voice),” he said.

“That’s where we made the mistake. I was at Telstra at the time and we supported the Voice, but we debated it extensively.”

Mullen said corporate involvement in political issues alienated many Australians, particularly those in rural areas who did not want to be dictated to by major companies based in Sydney and Melbourne.

In an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review, he argued that businesses should avoid taking public stances on divisive topics and instead focus on profitability.

“In today’s social media-driven world, however, companies have increasingly taken public stances on divisive issues such as same-sex marriage, the Voice, climate change and other causes,” he wrote.

“While these efforts have been well-intentioned, I think that, as so often happens, the pendulum has maybe swung too far.”

He said Australians rejected the Voice referendum not necessarily because of opposition to Indigenous empowerment, but because “people don’t like to be told by others what they should think,” particularly by corporations and government.

Mullen warned that taking sides on controversial issues could damage businesses, stating, “That is what we have an elected government for.”

He also criticised the way companies handle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, pointing to a backlash against such measures in the US.

“Clearly, in some areas corporates and others overstepped the enthusiastic adoption of some of the more radical or ‘woke’ initiatives, and this has caused a backlash in some quarters,” he wrote.

However, he said mainstream DEI and ESG initiatives had been shown to add value to companies and criticised businesses that dropped them simply to follow political trends.

“If they can suddenly drop the initiatives again and run like lemmings in the other direction than the one they ran in literally only yesterday, then one would be forgiven for wondering whether they ever really believed in the programs in the first place, or were they just virtue-signalling and doing them to try to look good and conform?”

Mullen urged corporate leaders to make decisions based on what benefits their company rather than chasing social trends.

“Don’t be radically woke but don’t be radically anti-woke either. Just do what you think is right and stick to it,” he said.

Please donate to support our independent journalism in Australia

Unlike almost all of our mainstream media competitors, Rebel News Australia doesn't receive any government funding. We rely on our generous audience to keep us reporting.

Optional email code

Canadian Dollars U.S. Dollars Australian Dollars British Pounds

Amount

$25

$50

$75

$100

$250

$500

$1,000

$2,500

Other

$

One-time

Monthly

DONATE