Peter Costello has refused to guarantee that the jobs of 37,000+ Qantas staff will not be sent offshore.

The Howard Government needs to act to prevent aircraft maintenance services jobs going off-shore; protect airline routes and services to regional Australia; and stop Qantas customer service jobs from being sent overseas.

Peter Costello can and must impose strict and enforceable conditions on the takeover or stop the proposed sale of Qantas.

If nothing is done to protect Qantas workers’ jobs, the company can send jobs offshore and use John Howard’s IR laws to drive down workers’ wages and conditions, and compromise our safety with less stringent maintenance requirements.