Qantas ends Alan Joyce's Asian folly as Hudson narrows focus
A week after Virgin Airways got its long-awaited IPO over the line by pledging to investors that it would stick to its knitting – solely focused on the domestic market, squarely aimed at the middle of the market, carefully avoiding the sort of growth plans that may spark a price war – Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson is showing the market that she too will home in on the markets that deliver the biggest returns.

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The Age
28 minutes ago
- The Age
Manager at prestigious college alleges she was frozen out for working from home
A manager at a prestigious Melbourne college who says she was frozen out at work and demoted over her working-from-home arrangement has taken her employer to the Federal Court. Kelly Reed, a commercial manager at University College – a student boarding facility attached to the University of Melbourne – says her health suffered and that she was hurt, distressed and humiliated by the conduct of her employer after she asked last year for a formally agreed arrangement to work from home most of the time. Loading The case comes as the state Labor government prepares to give workers the legally enforceable right to work remotely up to two days a week – the first Australian jurisdiction to do so – and with the right to work from home emerging as an increasingly fraught workplace issue. Reed is suing the college and two of its senior figures, college head Jennifer McDonald and its governing council chair Lisa Williams, alleging multiple breaches of the Fair Work Act after she made her flexible working request. She alleges her bosses made it difficult to do her job, demoted her and stripped her of responsibilities after she appealed in the Fair Work Commission the college's refusal of an ongoing working-from-home arrangement. Loading Courts have previously held that workers have no legally enforceable right to work remotely, but Reed and her lawyers allege the college breached the Fair Work Act by violating the work-from-home agreement that the parties had struck in the Fair Work Commission, as well as other contraventions of the legislation. The college denies any breaches of the act, has lodged a defence with the court and declined to discuss the case when contacted on Tuesday. MacDonald and Williams, in response to Reed's case, have both invoked the 'civil penalty privilege', a legal concept that shields people from giving evidence that might expose them to potential penalties.

Sydney Morning Herald
28 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Big salaries back at the big end of town
As bizoids descend on Canberra to talk productivity, living standards and artificial intelligence, CBD thought it was wise to see how the 1 per cent are travelling. Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn is one of 23 guests at the government's economic reform roundtable, and, sadly for him, his company is short a couple of bil. The boss of Australia's biggest business by market capitalisation pocketed $7 million in the year to June, compared with almost $9 million in the year prior. While Comyn's fixed pay and cash bonus increased, he received less from deferred awards that vested during the year. Better that than being replaced by AI chatbots, as happened to dozens of CommBank call centre staff recently. At the Big Australian, big salaries are also par for the course – even as profits and dividends fall. Chief executive Mike Henry trousered a 16 per cent annual pay rise to $US8.5 million ($13.11 million). His colleagues Brandon Craig and Vandita Pant have also dug up healthy pay rises, netting $US3.15 million and $US4.24 million, respectively. Speaking of jobs, Comyn's predecessor Ian Narev is ensconced at job search business Seek. He's sitting on an 8.1 per cent annual pay rise to $5.4 million. Canavan's energetic table Not everyone is getting into the roundtable spirit. Nationals senator Matt Canavan sat himself at a table across from Parliament House with a sign that screamed: 'ENERGY PRICES ARE THE REAL PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE! CHANGE MY MIND'.

Sydney Morning Herald
28 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Manager at prestigious college alleges she was frozen out for working from home
A manager at a prestigious Melbourne college who says she was frozen out at work and demoted over her working-from-home arrangement has taken her employer to the Federal Court. Kelly Reed, a commercial manager at University College – a student boarding facility attached to the University of Melbourne – says her health suffered and that she was hurt, distressed and humiliated by the conduct of her employer after she asked last year for a formally agreed arrangement to work from home most of the time. Loading The case comes as the state Labor government prepares to give workers the legally enforceable right to work remotely up to two days a week – the first Australian jurisdiction to do so – and with the right to work from home emerging as an increasingly fraught workplace issue. Reed is suing the college and two of its senior figures, college head Jennifer McDonald and its governing council chair Lisa Williams, alleging multiple breaches of the Fair Work Act after she made her flexible working request. She alleges her bosses made it difficult to do her job, demoted her and stripped her of responsibilities after she appealed in the Fair Work Commission the college's refusal of an ongoing working-from-home arrangement. Loading Courts have previously held that workers have no legally enforceable right to work remotely, but Reed and her lawyers allege the college breached the Fair Work Act by violating the work-from-home agreement that the parties had struck in the Fair Work Commission, as well as other contraventions of the legislation. The college denies any breaches of the act, has lodged a defence with the court and declined to discuss the case when contacted on Tuesday. MacDonald and Williams, in response to Reed's case, have both invoked the 'civil penalty privilege', a legal concept that shields people from giving evidence that might expose them to potential penalties.