Qantas job cuts unwelcome news: Gillard

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has described plans by Qantas to axe up to 1,750
workers as "another difficult day" amid increasingly bad news on the employment
front, where at least 10,000 jobs have been lost so far this year.
The news got even worse for the federal government later on Tuesday with Lihir Gold
announcing it would shed 200 workers from an underperforming mining operation in
Ballarat.
The job losses at Qantas and Lihir come less than a week after a sharp rise in
Australia's unemployment rate to 5.7 per cent in March from 5.2 per cent just a
month earlier.
Since January, Australian businesses, particularly in the mining and manufacturing
industries, have announced major job cuts totalling about 10,000.
Ms Gillard, who is also the employment and workplace relations minister, said the
move by Qantas was unwelcome news and distressing for workers and their families.
Qantas announced it would cut 500 management jobs but that it would work with staff
on job-sharing options and using long service leave entitlements before considering
a further 1,250 redundancies.
The cuts announced on Tuesday come after Australia's flagship airline axed 1,500
jobs last year.
"I would like to say that I think it is pleasing that Qantas is taking an approach,
in relation to the 1,250 jobs, that it is going to explore all options with
redundancies as a last resort," Ms Gillard told reporters.
But Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said the government needed to get its policy
priorities right and put "every dollar it spends" into job creation.
Attending a coalition-organised jobs forum in Mackay in Queensland on Tuesday, Mr
Turnbull said the plunge in Qantas' profit forecasts was obviously disappointing for
shareholders, but that the real issue was "jobs, jobs, jobs".
"There are hundreds of Australians who are going to be out of work as a result of
this decision. That's very troubling," Mr Turnbull said.
Ms Gillard said that along with other workers who lost their jobs as a result of the
economic crisis, the government was ready with an offer of intensive employment
services and training to increase their chances of re-employment.
"Following recent jobs figures and unemployment figures, this is another difficult
day," Ms Gillard said.
"It's a particularly difficult day for Qantas workers."
Ms Gillard said travel not only within Australia but also from overseas had been
affected by the economic conditions.
"It stands to reason that a global recession is going to hit international travel
particularly as people around the world find themselves less able to finance
travel," Ms Gillard said.
Opposition tourism spokesman Steve Ciobo said the Qantas announcement sounded the
alarm bells for Australia's tourism industry.
"Qantas has soft forward bookings and that just reinforces ongoing concern that I'm
hearing across the tourism industry that the future certainly does not look bright,"
Mr Ciobo told AAP.
"For every job cut at Qantas there's many, many more job cuts in the tourism and
hospitality industry."
Mr Ciobo says the federal government should convene an "emergency roundtable" with
tourism operators to work out a strategy to deal with the economic downturn.