The company aims at creating several affiliates in Southern Asia countries, which it will later on provide with a series of services, and thus become more competitive by cutting on salaries and staff. This was the main reason that sparked the ongoing industrial disputes of Qantas with three unions related to job security and employment conditions. From the 35,000 current employees more than 1,000 is estimated to be fired if the company goes on with its expansion plans.

These continuous disputes led the CEO to the dramatic decision of grounding all airplanes to the ground on the weekend. Mr Joyce will now be asked about any warnings he gave to either of the main parties before Saturday’s grounding.

The Greek-Australian senator said the inquiry should have the powers of a royal commission. “These actions by Qantas management are just extraordinary,” he said on ABC Radio on October 30. “It has implications going well beyond an industrial dispute. It has national interest implications.”

Each side has made claims against the other. If the Opposition had any forewarning, it should have alerted Parliament to the risk. The Government says it didn’t know about the grounding until 2pm (AEDT) on Saturday, about three hours before Qantas stopped flying, reported The Australian.

The Australian Senate will bring about amendments in two bills concerning the Qantas Sale Act and the preventions of Qantas assets leaking into offshore activities through the use of its Jetstar low cost franchise.

The committee is due to report on November 21.

Nick Xenophon

Greek – Australian Senator Nick Xenophon reaffirmed the historical reality of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides, paving the way for the Upper House to officially recognize these crimes against humanity.
Speaking in the Senate on October 12 Xenophon declared: “From 1915 to 1923, the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian people were the victims of one of the first modern genocides. The exact figures are not known, but it is estimated that over 3.5 million people died as a result of deliberate, systematic actions by the Ottoman Empire.”

According to him, the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian communities in Australia and around the world deserve to have these past atrocities acknowledged as what they were: genocide, armenia.com.au website reported.
The Senator also paid tribute to the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) and the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) for their efforts at raising awareness of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Genocides.

“In the coming months I will be working with the Armenian National Committee and the Australian Hellenic Council to formulate a motion to put to the Senate, and I will encourage all of my colleagues to support it,” he added.

Xenophon recalled that Australia had not formally acknowledged this genocide because of our diplomatic relationship with Turkey.
“If we do not acknowledge this history for fear of offending another country, where do we draw the line? When is an event or issue serious enough for us to take the risk? It is time for Australia to choose a position. Either we acknowledge these genocides, or we refuse to. If we do not take a stand on this issue, we need to consider what it says about our country,” emphasized the Senator.

The government aims to limit poker machines losses by problem gamblers, as part of its agreement with key crossbench MP Andrew Wilkie to secure minority government.

Demetriou said the league estimated AFL club revenue from poker machines would fall by 20 to 40 percent if mandatory pre-commitment was introduced. On the other hand, Senator Nick Xenophon, who is leading Wilkie’s legal team on a pro-bono basis, attacked Demetriou and Wilkie stating that he will withdraw his support for the Gillard government, threatening its survival, if the poker legislation is not passed.

Under the new plan poker machines will be reprogrammed to cap losses at $120 an hour rather than $1200 an hour, while “lower intensity” machines will not require any form of pre-commitment. “Eighty-eight per cent of Australians who play the poker machines won’t be affected in any way,” he said.

Wilkie found opponents such as the AFL and its chief, that always ignored the fact poker machines offering bets of $1 or less would require no pre-commitment. Thus the AFL wanted to help raise awareness around problem gambling and actually tackle that issue, not by putting sports clubs in jeopardy.

Chief executive of Afl wants to prevent Wilkie from imposing the new measure, but Wilkie is supported by Senator Xenophon, who stated that Andrew Wilkie is fearless.