Minister ‘concerned’ about Qantas cybersecurity in Accenture move

“Well, certainly we have seen where companies have had vulnerabilities from third-party operators,” she said.

“Qantas has had that experience itself, both from the very complex cyber-attacks that we see, where people are constantly testing data systems and constantly trying to get in and find backdoors into ICT systems, right the way down to just people being able to scam people on the phone and get into accounts that way.

“Certainly, we are concerned, which is why you saw the Prime Minister and Tony Burke yesterday have been talking about this issue for a long time – how do you provide better cyber security in the current environment?

“But certainly we have seen, when you’ve got outsourcing [to] third-party operators, you lose some of your control over that.”

The Minister agreed with the Australian Services Union (ASU), which has heavily criticised the plan, saying it is an “incredibly disappointing” decision.

“They’re saying it’s twofold. One is obviously to try and get ahead of AI and to change and convert its platforms. But I think the union is right to be disappointed that it’s resulting in 850 job losses. I think investing in the workforce that has basically built it should be a priority for Qantas,” she said.

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“My call to them is to work very closely with the unions to retrain, redeploy as many of those 850 people as possible, because we need those AI capabilities here in Australia as well, and it shouldn’t just be an exercise in taking costs out of the business.

“It’s got to be an exercise in growing the business and growing Australian jobs for the future. And I think that’s what both the government, the union and the Australian people would expect of it.”

Minister King also warned that the Qantas board should “reflect” on the potential for the move to damage its reputation and social licence in the wake of other outsourcing controversies.

“This has been a model that Qantas has been using for some time, outsourcing jobs, no longer having them in house. It’s not the only company that obviously does that, but the scale of it when Qantas does it is substantial,” she said.

“We do need AI capabilities here in this country. We need jobs in this country, and I would hope very much so that Qantas reflects on that and what happened last time when it engaged in such a significant outsourcing exercise and the damage it did to its reputation.”

Australian Aviation understands that Qantas invests heavily in its cybersecurity, with tens of millions of dollars spent on it every year, and that it takes accountability for its customers’ and employees’ data. Accenture is used by a number of large global organisations, including airlines.