Irish born, Aussie Citizen, apparently.
Lots of interesting discussion on another forum, inc serval posts from people who actually know what they're on about...
The most common theory:
Joyce wants to shut down Qantas so they can dodge the "Australian based" stuff that was written into their constitution when it was privatised in 1995 - and set up "Big Al's Airline" in SE Asia.
Other (largely unverified) comments include:
1. Jetstar gets all the new planes, while Qantas have to pay to maintain the older, more maintenance-intensive older places.
2. Lots of work that's supposedly done overseas has to be re-done in Australia, taking from the Aussie budget.
3. Joyce (his personal company, I presume) actually owns some of the Qantas fleet, and leases the planes to Qantas - which is why the Board is so complicit in his wishes.
4. Grounding the whole fleet was completely unjustifiable, consindering that none of the domestic staff unions are involved.
Interesting times ahead.
This could be a massive opportunity for Gillard to take a stand. I think she's done OK so far (but - like always - would have done a lot better with a tiny bit of explaination), but for once the majority of popular opinion aligns with the broad position her party is supposed to support.
Whether she manages to do anything positive for her government, the Qantas workers or Qantas as a whole, remains to be seen.