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Ansett levy diverted to security: report

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Ansett levy diverted to security: report

Old 13th Nov 2004, 12:55
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Ansett levy diverted to security: report

November 13, 2004 - 10:34PM

Nearly $100 million raised by the government through the Ansett ticket levy, which was meant to help pay the entitlements of staff who lost their jobs, has instead been spent on aviation security.

The Sun-Herald newspaper reported that this was despite the fact that thousands of former employees were still waiting for money to be paid after the airline collapsed in September 2001.

Former flight attendant Joanne Turner said she was still owed $33,000, but she knew colleagues who were waiting for more than $100,000, the paper reported.

"I will be lucky to see $10,000. This $10 ticket levy was always intended for us. The people of Australia paid it for the purpose of entitlements.

"The Commonwealth collected a massive amount of money on our behalf using the goodwill of the public, but there are still ex-Ansett workers out there doing it tough," Ms Turner said.

A spokesman for Transport Minister John Anderson said that under a program set up by the federal government after the airline collapsed, nearly 13,000 Ansett employees had received outstanding wages, annual leave, long service leave, pay in lieu of notice and up to eight weeks' redundancy pay, the Sun-Herald reported.

"The government promised at the time that any surplus would go to tourism and travel industries, and hence (the introduction of) the $93 million security package," the spokesman said.

The 2001 staff payout was made under the Special Employee Entitlement Scheme for Ansett employees (SEESA).

ACTU senior industrial officer Richard Watts accused the government of profiteering from the misfortune of ex-Ansett employees.

"Essentially they are double-dipping and making a profit. There are a lot of people who are seeing planes and assets sold and wondering where the money is going," Mr Watts was quoted by The Sun-Herald as saying.

© 2004 AAP

Well...there goes the boat!
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Old 13th Nov 2004, 13:13
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Are you surprised that John Anderson's portfolio responsibilities screwed yet again part of the industry?
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Old 13th Nov 2004, 21:16
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As far as I can tell they actually kept their word on this.

The levy was to cover any possible repayment shortfall from the administrator for the loan to pay the initial entitlements.

The surplus was to be used for tourism industry - I think security qualifies - they kept thier word (probably be the only time)
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Old 13th Nov 2004, 23:03
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Unhappy Hidden toll of Ansett's collapse

November 14, 2004

The demise of Ansett left thousands of airline workers out of pocket. But has it also resulted in some 40 suicides and other stress-related deaths? William Birnbauer reports.

Robbie Holdaway is one of Sir Reg Ansett's "old boilers". She started at the airline when she was 19 and spent 25 years as an Ansett cabin manager. When she spots a plane today, however, she turns away, often with tears in her eyes.

After the collapse of Ansett Airlines in 2001, she didn't go near a terminal for 18 months, and when she did "tears poured down my face", she says.

Like many former Ansett workers, she blames the Federal Government for the airline's collapse, and is furious that some of the money raised from the $10 ticket levy paid by passengers is being spent on airport security while former staff are still waiting to recoup their entitlements.

But the sadness is for the human toll, and that is something many people don't want to talk about. Ms Holdaway says about 40 former Ansett staff have committed suicide and another half-dozen have suffered heart attacks or died from stress-related illnesses.

It is a figure that is as shocking as it is difficult to prove. It certainly is possible - about 15,000 staff lost their jobs, and an estimated 60,000 people in associated industries were affected. Ansett's administrators simply say it is "a bit high", then add, "but we are aware of a number (of suicides)". Superannuation administrators won't comment. Ms Holdaway maintains she knew about half of those involved.

"Warren", a 767 captain for 30 years, knows only too well the financial stress brought on by sudden job loss. He believes the number of suicides to be in the mid-40s. He knows of three cases personally. He cites two in which a flight engineer and a former Airbus pilot gassed themselves in their cars, and another in which a woman from catering hanged herself.

Warren doesn't want to be identified because of ongoing

financial issues but is happy to talk about his experiences. After losing his job, he drove a bread van in south-east Queensland. He had mortgages on about $1 million worth of real estate, and admits he lived close to the edge financially while the money was rolling in.

But when the cash stopped, his troubles quickly mounted. Eight banks, financial institutions, councils and the tax office were chasing him over late repayments.

"I can tell you the pressures are extreme," he recalls. "You are getting people knocking on the door, serving notices. (I was) living on the edge, running to the window, blinds down... sneaking to the window to see what a car driving slowly past is doing... I got arrested by the police one day serving a notice... I can understand why people commit suicide."

Melbourne-based Anna Novakovic worked at Ansett as a troubleshooter, organising accommodation for stranded passengers, and trying to anticipate problems.

She also believes about 40 former colleagues killed themselves.

"I had an email about someone who committed suicide, I think it was about the 28th one. When I saw a name, it brought it home to me. I was, 'Oh, my God.' It had a profound effect. It's not just numbers or pie in the sky. It should never have happened."

Unions are reluctant to talk about the issue because of the pain it might cause relatives and friends and the possible risk of copycat suicides. But they don't dispute the deaths.

A spokesman for the Australian Workers Union knew of 15 "verifiable" suicides. Transport Workers Union industrial officer David Lupton says he knows of 13 in NSW and Victoria alone.

And it doesn't end there. Mr Lupton points to former staff having to sell their property and cars and the high rate of marriage breakdown - particularly jarring because many staff met and married work colleagues.

Staff had to pull their children out of private schools after taking lower-paying or transitional jobs. Three years on, some pilots are back in the air, but are working for overseas airlines and spending too little time with their families.

"I know skippers now flying for companies like JAL who are away for up to six weeks, home for one week, away for six weeks and that's what the rest of their life is going to be like because they can't get (local) jobs," says Ms Holdaway.

For many Australians, the collapse of Ansett is a sad but distant memory, tempered by the belief that Ansett staff recouped their entitlements after the Federal Government imposed a $10 ticket levy on air travel. But Ms Holdaway says she is owed about $50,000. Warren says he is owed between $50,000 and $100,000 and Ms Novakovic says she is owed about $20,000.

All three are angry about what they see as the Government's duplicitous handling of the entitlement issue. They say its clear message to the public was that the ticket tax would be used to meet staff entitlements. But late last year, the Government announced $93 million in airport security upgrades, mostly funded by money left over from the levy.

Soon after the September 2001 collapse, the Federal Government provided administrators Mark Mentha and Mark Korda loans that were used to pay 9500 staff members their basic entitlements. To date, $349.8 million has been provided under this arrangement. The figure will eventually total $357 million.

So far, KordaMentha has repaid $209 million of the loans and expects to repay a total of $268.5 million purely from asset sales, leaving a shortfall of $88.7 million. However, the Federal Government also raised $286 million from the ticket tax.

Ansett staff are owed a total of $760 million and KordaMentha expects it will be able to pay out a total of $638.7 million within a few years. This means Ansett staff will be $120 million short on their entitlements.

The figures and what goes where can be mind-boggling. But in the eyes of many former staff, the only figures that matter are the $120 million in entitlements that staff will miss out on and about $190 million that the Federal Government appears to be profiting by.

Former staff are organising a meeting in Sydney on November 27 to voice their outrage. "How can there be a surplus of funds when we still wait to be paid our legal entitlements?" asks Kerrie Birdsall, a 20-year Ansett veteran who says she is owed $33,000. "I believe the Howard Government has misled the public."

Warren says: "John Anderson (then federal transport minister) and John Howard both said publicly that the ticket tax levy was collected for the benefit for Ansett employees. They blatantly lied."

Ms Holdaway now works with her husband at her family's guest house in NSW.

"The loyalty within the Ansett company was unbelievable, we were like a big family," she says. "When I see a plane now, I just try and remember what I call the gods (the good old days), because it's never going to be the same again."

Those needing assistance can reach Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, Lifeline on 131 114 (both 24-hour lines), SANE on 1800 688 382 or the Kids Help Line on 1800 551 800.
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Old 14th Nov 2004, 09:04
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For some unknown reason, I have always believed that employee entitlements were the first thing to be paid out when a company was wound up. Obviously wrong again.

It would seem the 2 Marks have made and will continue to make a mozza out of the Ansett demise.

So sad to see the last of the girls still waiting for a new airline at MEL and MEB.

EWL
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Old 16th Nov 2004, 07:26
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Ansett Employees Meeting

Meeting for the former Ansett Employees to address the issue of unpaid Entitlements.
Where CRONULLA RSL
38 Gerrale Street Cronulla Sydney
When Saturday 27 Nov. 2004 at 10.00am
This is the initiative of Ex Ansett Employees concerned about what has taken place.
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Old 16th Nov 2004, 09:16
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eenie weenie

For some reason, my brain will not process the fact that I will never hear the roar of Speys as EWD approaches DPO from the West during a spate of Easterly weather ever again.

On my days off, that sound and a quick check of the clock told me all was right with the world and EW74 was on schedule, promptly followed by a smile and a return to sleep.

Isn't it funny how the former emplloyees of the mouse that roared wear what was technichally a disparaging badge with immense pride at what we did and what we were?

I wouldn't change a thing ,but want my AN mates to get what is due them. On the front line they fought the good fight, and it was only management that bastardised everything to our mutual demise.

Go get 'em guys and girls, and never foget the Airline and people you worked with have made you what you are.

A cut above.

EWL
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Old 17th Nov 2004, 00:21
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PD - I believe, like you, that the Govt has done what it said, i.e. provided loans to enable the payment of the following:

Outstanding Annual Leave entitlements
Outstanding LSL entitlements
Outstanding Time-in-lieu entitlements
Up to eight (8) weeks Redundancy Payment

What I cannot accept is that, where we were the top of the list of creditors, the loans were conditional on being paid back to the Govt AS THE PRINCIPAL CREDITOR, (my emphasis). There is no way the PM and the Minister for Qantas had the remotest intent of paying out ALL entitlements, what sort of precedent would this have set for the future? It could have been open slather for any Company manager to mis-manage his company then expect the Govt to pick up the tab for the employees when it all went belly up! I would prefer to see the public made aware that the $10:00 tax collected did not go to the employees, there is a deal of misinformation out there about it. I have, on more than one occasion, been asked ..."what's your problem, you got 72c in the dollar, a lot more than the Pyramid investors". Yeah, right, I got 72c/dollar, I wish I had!!

Kind regards,

TheNightOwl.
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Old 17th Nov 2004, 21:55
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Ansett Levy

Johnny Howard on 2GB this morning:

"..., we have spent $93 million on aviation security, thus relieving the industry and indirectly the travelling public from the additional cost involved in that investment"

How does that work? Haven't the travelling public actually paid for the security upgrades through being overtaxed? Unbelievable!!
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