Fed: Labor seeks Qantas guarantees on jobs and security

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2006
Fed: Labor seeks Qantas guarantees on jobs and security

By Steve Larkin

ADELAIDE, Dec 15 AAP - Labor wants Qantas to guarantee the future of its Australian
workforce and its own survival with current debt levels.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says Labor also wants Qantas to guarantee it will remain
an Australian-based company that won't be "broken up into small bits".

Qantas Airways yesterday accepted an $11.1 billion takeover bid from an international
consortium, subject to a national interest test by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The buyers have pledged not to break up the national carrier but Mr Rudd said Labor
wanted more assurances, particularly about debt levels, job security and the airline's
security role.

"This proposed acquisition is hugely comprised of debt," Mr Rudd told reporters in
Adelaide today.

"What I'm concerned about, and we need some assurances of, is this corporation's ability
to sustain that level of debt into the future.

"It's (Qantas) a very big Australian company, it employs 35,000 Australians, it's one
of the largest providers of apprenticeships in the country - we have got a national interest
in making sure this company has a viable future."

Mr Rudd said the airline industry was a "highly volatile business".

"Let's get some guarantees from the new management of Qantas, the new ownership of
Qantas, (that) its debt burden is not such that it will impede this company's ability
to survive and thrive into the future when it comes to those future shocks which are almost
unique to the airline industry," he said.

Mr Rudd said Labor wanted Qantas to guarantee it would remain Australian based, won't
be broken up, would continue offering regional services, and that the airline would still
be available for use in national security emergencies.

Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon has said the airline would still be available
to transport Australians from the world's trouble spots.

AAP sl/jt/nf

KEYWORD: QANTAS RUDD NIGHTLEAD

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.