18:10:00 27/02/2014
Qantas swung the axe on its own workforce again today. The national carrier is now pinning its future on a drastic cost-cutting program that will leave 5,000 of its workers jobless in the next three years. The airline today reported a record half-year loss of $235 million. It is freezing wages until the cuts yield a return to profit. Qantas will also abandon unpopular routes, scale down its ageing fleet and halt its expansion into Asia. More
- Peter Ryan
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18:14:00 27/02/2014
As Qantas workers wait to hear if they're among the 5,000 on the hit list, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has told PM there will be more tough decisions to make. Mr Joyce rejected calls to quit when he spoke to our business editor Peter Ryan. More
18:18:00 27/02/2014
Qantas employees, from pilots to baggage handlers, are anxiously waiting to find out which jobs will go in sweeping cuts to attempt to make the airline profitable again. The airline deals with 14 unions and their leaders all want more details. More
18:22:00 27/02/2014
Parliament's most outspoken critic of Qantas, Senator Nick Xenophon, has derided Qantas management as 'a disgrace', calling for a judicial inquiry to examine the company's books. The Prime Minister says he grieves with Qantas workers and has given his strongest indication yet that a debt guarantee for Qantas is unlikely. More
18:26:00 27/02/2014
Passengers flying with Qantas are concerned about what the jobs losses and other cuts mean for the future and standards of the national carrier. Australians seem particularly concerned that the foreign ownership restriction may be relaxed while foreign visitors who are full of praise for the airline say foreign investment would be a good thing. More
18:30:00 27/02/2014
The Federal Government is trying abolish the statutory body which is advising it on climate change, but the Climate Change Authority is still issuing advice. It says if the Government wants a credible response to climate change it must triple its emissions reduction target.
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18:36:00 27/02/2014
The Royal Commission hearings into Parramatta and Hay girls homes has heard that in the early 1970s men came in from outside the institutions to gang rape girls and take photographs of them. The commission also heard allegations of violence and sexual abuse against a former officer of one of the homes, John Frank Valentine, who is still alive. More
- Mark Colvin
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18:40:00 27/02/2014
Decades after the UK joined the European Union, many people there still want to leave. Europsceptics, as they're called, form a substantial wing of the governing Conservative Party, and considerable numbers of Conservative votes have been bled away by the highly Eurosceptic UK Independence Party - or UKIP. The Tory member of the European parliament is regarded as the most articulate of the young Eurosceptics. More
18:44:00 27/02/2014
Relatives of those killed in New Zealand's Pike River coal mine disaster say they're disgusted at accusations that a deal was done to drop charges against the mine's boss. A letter made public today shows that the lawyer for CEO Peter Whittall wrote to the prosecution offering to make a $3 million payment to victims' relatives if the case didn't proceed. More
18:48:00 27/02/2014
A key meeting will be held on Monday to discuss the future of the star rating system for food. More
18:52:00 27/02/2014
Lawyers says a man is a suing a country Victorian football league over an incident in which he was injured at a grand final match. They say the 37-year-old man was a spectator at the Mininera Football Ground in south-west Victoria, and was knocked unconscious when a brawl broke out. More