15th March 2000
City Country Alliance Parliamentary Leader Bill Feldman, today reacted angrily to the prediction of massive job losses in the partly-privatised Telstra
"I won't say I am surprised", said Mr Feldman. "This is inevitably what happens when the economic rationalists take control, putting profit before people. This is exactly what City Country Alliance has been predicting and this is why we have always spoken out against privatising what are basically essential services".
"This is a scandal of massive proportions. We are deeply concerned for those 8000 families who will suddenly find themselves on the unemployment scrap heap. We are deeply concerned that up to 2000 of those are quite likely to be regional Queensland families. Add to that another 2000 - 3000 jobs likely to be lost Australia - wide in the Commonwealth takeover of Colonial, and we have major concerns over the impact such massive job losses, will have on regional communities. We could well see further small business failures and further reductions in government services in small rural communities as Telstra and bank workers exodus", Mr Feldman said.
"There is also the service level aspect", said Mr Feldman. "The government can attempt to legislate minimum service levels til the cows come home, but ultimately, the almighty dollar will prevail, and service levels will decline in favour of increased profits. In any event, service levels can not be maintained with staff cuts of that magnitude'.
"And where will the job losses, and the decline in service levels hit hardest?" said Mr Feldman. "It is pretty obvious, isn't it? The bush gets another kick in the guts".
"This is a government for the big end of town. Their callous and uncaring attitude can not be tolerated. Rural and regional Queenslanders are the productive backbone of the economy. They deserve much better than this", said Mr Feldman.
"Both Labor and the Coalition are hell bent on continuing these destructive attitudes and policies. CCAQ stands alone to continue the fight against all the evils of economic rationalism embodied in privatisation and deregulation", he said.