News Release

VOTERS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MARGINAL SEATS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT AUSTRALIAN JOBS AND AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS

5 February 2007

A recent poll of voters in marginal seats across Australia including the key South Australian seats of Kingston and Wakefield has shown that there is widespread concern that the Howard Government is not doing enough to protect Australian jobs and workplace standards.

The Kingston and Wakefield electorates include the suburbs/towns of Morphett Vale, Hackham, Reynella, Seaford and Noarlunga in the south, and Elizabeth, Munno Para and Gawler in the north.

The survey was conducted by the independent pollster Auspoll for unions representing airline workers in light of the potential sale of Qantas to a group of local and foreign private investors that includes the Texas Pacific Group.

Key findings of the research include :

• An overwhelming majority of people opposes the takeover of Qantas by a private equity consortium (79% nationally and 84% in Kingston and 86% in Wakefield).

• Most believe that the sale of Qantas would mean that only the more profitable routes would be flown and that services in regional areas would suffer (75% nationally and 65% in Kingston and 78% in Wakefield).

• Most people agree that the only winners under the Qantas sale will be the banks and private investors and that Qantas services and jobs are bound to be cut (73% nationally and 75% in Kingston and 76% in Wakefield).

• A substantial majority of people polled also believed that the Howard Government was not doing enough to prevent Australian businesses being sold overseas and jobs being lost offshore (80% nationally and 90% in Kingston and 84% in Wakefield).

ACTU President Sharan Burrow is visiting the Kingston electorate in Adelaide's south on Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 6th of February, Ms Burrow said :

"The message is clear from local people in marginal heartland suburbs such as Morphett Vale and Elizabeth that Mr Howard's Government and local Coalition MP's are not doing enough to protect Australian jobs".

"People are worried about their own jobs and the lack of opportunities for young people if more businesses and employment is lost overseas".

"Unions are standing up for Australian jobs and standing up for decent standards in our workplaces", said Ms Burrow.

SA Unions Secretary Janet Giles also said :

"Australians are feeling that their jobs are not as secure as they used to be because of the Coalition Government's IR laws and Mr Howard's lack of support for Australian jobs and businesses".

"This poll shows that this is an issue not just for the Qantas employees living in Kingston and Wakefield but for the whole community.  South Australians want a Federal Government that will stand up for local jobs and stand up for working families, said Ms Giles.