AAP General News (Australia)
04-15-2009
What Australian newspaper say on Wednesday, April 15, 2009
SYDNEY, April 15 AAP- Qantas has one of the greatest records for reliability in the
entire aviation world, says a Sydney Daily Telegraph editorial.
But when it comes to reliable employment, says the Telegraph, its another matter.
Tuesday's shock announcement of a likely 1750 retrenchments at Qantas is more than
just the latest indicator of a global economy's decline, says the paper.
"This is because Qantas is more than just an airline. It's a primary Australian brand
and part of our wider culture.
"Australians travelling abroad are always made to feel more secure whenever they see
the famous flying kangaroo.
"It shows how deep are our economic troubles that even powerful Qantas can be so deeply wounded."
The Telegraph asks its readers to put aside national feelings for a second and consider
the wider issues raised by the Qantas move.
"They're profoundly worrying. People simply aren't flying. For many - too many - it's
an abandoned luxury," says the paper.
"And we're still only at the beginning of this economic ride.
"As Qantas air staff would advise, please put on your seat belts. There's turbulence ahead.".
Melbourne's Herald Sun, however, says the retrenchment announcement shows Qantas is
planning for the future ... and world economic recovery.
Unions and the airline are examining all options and any uplift in the economy could
see staff given a reprieve, it says.
"The outlook is undoubtedly grim for those whose jobs are threatened and follows a
worldwide slump in ticket sales," says the Herald Sun.
"Qantas has seen its profit collapse from $1.4 billion before tax last year to perhaps
$100 to $200 million this financial year.
"Still, management appears to be aware it must plan for the day when Qantas will again
need skilled employees. Companies must plan to survive the recovery as well as the downturn.
"There are blue skies ahead for most Australian companies, as well as the Flying Kangaroo.
The test is to have a workforce ready to take advantage of these better times when they
do arrive."
Brisbane's The Courier Mail says last week's collapse of Sunshine Coast-based kitchen
appliance company Kleenmaid will affect thousands of Australian families who had paid
about $27 million in deposits to the company for as-yet-undelivered appliances and fittings.
Also, Tuesday's Qantas announcement comes after Brisbane Airport Corporation revealed
it was pushing back a $750 million upgrade to Qantas and Virgin terminals from an original
completion date of 2012 to 2014.
It has also postponed proposed completion of its $1 billion parallel runway due to
falling passenger numbers.
The world economic downturn has now seeped into the level of the economy occupied by
increasingly wary consumers, says the Courier Mail.
"Combine that with nervous bankers who do not want to lend money and the result is
a new round of business collapses and with them a new round of lost deposits placed by
consumers who thought nothing had changed."
The arrival of a well-equipped boat carrying 63 unauthorised arrivals last week has
hoisted Immigration Minister Chris Evans on his own policy petard, says the Australian
newspaper's lead editorial.
"And, given the way he and Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus are respectively tardy and
terse with information on the 207 boatpeople who have arrived this year - more than the
total for last year - it appears Senator Evans knows it," says the paper. The Australian
says that before the last election, Labor promised everything to everybody on border protection.
"For people worried about illegal immigrants, there were promises the tough tradition
established by the Keating government would continue." says the paper.
"For the vocal opponents of John Howard's policy of mandatory detention in offshore
camps, there were assurances of a kinder, gentler toughness.
" Last year, Senator Evans demonstrated whose support he valued most, ending 20 years
of bipartisan policy on illegal immigration."
The Australian says first detention camps on Nauru and Christmas Island were closed,
then the Howard government policy of granting refugees temporary visas rather than permanent
residence was abolished.
Finally, Senator Evans ended the practice of incarcerating everybody who arrived illegally
until their right to refugee status was decided.
"Inevitably, rights industry activists argued that this was not good enough. Labor
left in place the fiction that atolls and islands off the northwest coast, where most
boats make landfall, are not actually Australia - thus denying boatpeople the protection
of laws on refugees and access to the courts."
But overall, says the paper, Senator Evans's reforms were a big win for advocates of
easy access for people who arrive without approval seeking asylum.
Regrettably, they were also a victory for the people-smugglers.
A Sydney Morning Herald editorial reckons rugby union administrators on both sides
of the Tasman are well offside.
The paper says rugby prides itself on its strong following among the corporate elite
and the professional class.
It sees itself as a smart game for smart people. But if the people who run rugby are
so smart, why is support for the game going backwards?, the paper asks
"This year's declining television ratings and attendance figures are not mere collateral
damage from the global financial freeze," says the paper.
"Rugby's main problem is the game itself.
"It is having trouble competing in the most crowded football market in the world.
"Fans fall away when the product is overpriced and underwhelming. This has certainly
been the case for rugby's showpiece team in its biggest market, the NSW Waratahs.
Instead of seeing a problem within the game itself, which has become bogged down wirth
endless kicking and whistle-blowing, rugby is intent on offering more product rather than
better product.
"Australian and New Zealand rugby, through greed and myopia, are going to kill the
golden goose by cheapening the mystique of Tests between the Wallabies and the All Blacks
by playing an increasingly ho-hum merry-go-round of four Tests a year," says the Herald.
"Somebody needs to sit down with John O'Neill, the chief executive of the Australian
Rugby Union, and explain to him the term overkill."
Finally, The Age newspaper says that the Unrest in Thailand could end with compromise
between the government and anti-government protesters.
It says "external mediation" between the parties could be a way forward for Thailand,
with "two sides of politics that appear incapable of accepting the other's legitimacy
in office," the editorial said.
"One option, adopted in other deeply divided countries, could be an interim government
of national unity, giving all Thais a stake in restoring civil order.
"This will require compromise, although principles such as universal franchise and
a fully elected government ought not be compromised.
"At present, even these basic democratic principles are in dispute, but at some point
Thais must take stock of the impacts on investment and tourism on top of a global recession,
and resolve that enough is enough.
"The ballot box is the place for the Thai people to settle the roiling power struggle;
it is the nation's best hope of long-term stability."
AAP it/
KEYWORD: EDITORIALS
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