Qantas makes mercy plea for illegal sackings 'mistake'

Qantas did not deliberately break the law when it illegally sacked 1820 workers and its "mistake" warrants a "mid-range" penalty, a court has been told.

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee has heard final submissions on the penalty to be imposed on Qantas for the biggest case of illegal sackings in Australian history.

Last year, Qantas agreed to pay $120 million to the ground staff as compensation for their economic loss, pain and suffering since their jobs were outsourced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Transport Workers Union is seeking the maximum penalty of $121 million and an order that the money be paid to the union, while Qantas has urged Justice Lee to impose a "mid-range" penalty between $40 million and $80 million.

The airline's "failure was in the territory of mistake, rather than deliberate breach of the law," Qantas counsel Justin Gleeson SC told the court.

"The failure has now been exposed and recognised by the contravener, and the contravener has put in place appropriate steps to minimise the risk of the failure occurring again," he said on Wednesday.

Qantas argued that its actions were driven by "business calamities" caused by the pandemic, not exploitation, and the illegal sackings were the result of a single decision and therefore only one breach of the law.

It also pointed to the $120 million compensation deal and and its expression of contrition for its actions.

On Monday, Qantas chief people officer Catherine Walsh told the court the airline was "deeply sorry" for the impact on the workers, their family and friends and the union.

Mr Gleeson argued the court should not infer negatively from the failure to call Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson as a witness, and emphasised concrete steps she had taken, including rebuilding relationships, creating an inclusive culture and public apologies.

"There's a recognition that a change needed to be made ... there was a top down culture which impacted empowerment and a willingness to challenge or speak up on issues or decisions of concern," he said.

"There's been a significant refresh of the group leadership team. Seventy per cent are either new to Qantas or to their role or to the (team)"

Most of the submissions at Wednesday's hearing focused on meetings between senior managers at Qantas, a group management committee meeting and a board meeting.

After initially saying he would aim to deliver a judgment on Friday, Justice Lee reserved his decision.

At a protest at Brisbane Airport on Wednesday, the TWU called on airlines, airports, governments and regulators to ensure fair standards at companies like Swissport, which took over much of the work done by the sacked Qantas workers.

"That work has been shoved off to operators like Swissport, who have a horrific international reputation for maiming workers, for underpaying workers, for wage theft," TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said.

Recent safety visits revealed that in Brisbane, Swissport has more than 400 safety reports a month, he said.

"The Albanese government must put in place a Safe and Secure Skies Commission to stop the spiral of dangerously low standards and ensure there's oversight in such a vital industry to our island nation."