It would make no difference if it were not an election year. The voter backlash would last a long time if the Government of the day bailed out a private,foreign owned Company in Australia. We have seen a number foreign owned industries close down or move offshore here in Australia in recent times.
Ansett is no different,it is just bigger.
If you count the number of jobs lost in foreign Companies here in Oz, in the car industry,textile manufacturing and electronics industry, the number of casualties would be high. It's just not 10,000 in one hit.
I feel very sorry for the employees at Ansett but as with any employee in today's volatile market place,it seems nothing is "forever" anymore.
What is for sure, it is not the Government's job to bail out every private enterprise business in Australia,with taxpayer's money, that go broke because of bad corporate decisions and poor business practise. Especially if that Company is not Australian anyway.