TBM perhaps you should investigate a little more closely what Ansett employees really got from the Howard government. A loan was provided by the government knowing full well it would be recovered by AN assets. Even then they were impatient and raised a ticket tax just in case...
So, 30,000 people unemployed in Australia's biggest corporate collapse was mitigated without much cost to government. The AN ticket tax went back into the government coffers. We didn't really get a "brass razoo" as you assert.
I even heard the money in the bank from our pilot union went to charity.
What I learn't from the AN collapse is a lot of folks, perversely, relished in other's misfortune. Especially those who bombed out in Ansett selection.