“Bulldust”: David Koch fires up on Qantas boss over vaccine roll-out:
Sunrise host David Koch has lost his cool during an interview with Qantas head Alan Joyce, while discussing Australia’s vaccine rollout.
The presenter slammed Mr Joyce’s commentary on the vaccination rollout, who said it “was not a race”.
Koch slammed it as “bulldust”, saying: “Nat (Natalie Barr) took on the Health Minister on Friday magnificently, and then even over the weekend, Michael McCormack, Dan Tehan the Trade Minister, all speaking this is not a race, bulldust, it is a race, isn’t it?”
Mr Joyce responded by saying that Qantas had a “vested interest” in the country’s vaccine rollout.
“We want to do everything that we can to ensure the borders domestically open and stay open and that we get international up and running,” he said.
“We have 6000 of our people stood down that are working on international flights, and they will be stood down until we have the international borders reopened.
“If this was a flight, we’ve done a fantastic job of managing the take-off … there’s been a bit of turbulence on the way through, now we are coming in for the landing, and getting the covid vaccine rolled out is part of the landing and getting that right will be very key so we can have the certainty for everybody in the country.”
The heated discussion followed after Qantas announced they would be introducing 1000 bonus frequent flyer for passengers who get the COVID-19 jab.
Mr Joyce revealed the incentives may be offered as early as July.
“We are also looking at having 10 mega prizes, one at least for each state and territory, where a family of four can get unlimited free travel for a year in 2022 on the Qantas and Jetstar networks,” he said.
“In addition to that, the Accor group has come on-board, and they’re offering up to one million Accor points, which gives free accommodation across 400 hotel zone resorts across the country.
“We are very big on encouragement for people to get out there and get the vaccine.”
Mr Joyce said the offer would be available through the Qantas app.
Anyone who had both jabs in the time leading up to July and anyone who becomes completely inoculated towards the end of the year is eligible.
Images: Channel 7 / Shutterstock