Australian gov't under fire over Qantas dispute

Anger towards Qantas has on Monday shifted onto the federal government, with Opposition and councils attacked Prime Minister Julia Gillard on her handling of the Qantas dispute. Australian national flag carrier Qantas on Saturday made a sudden announcement to ground its entire flights including domestic and international flights, and locking out its staff due to pay and job security quarrel. Federal government on Saturday asked Fair Work Australia (FWA) to solve the dispute, resulting FWA early Monday announced to terminate all industrial action between Qantas and three unions, paving the way for the airline to return to the skies on Monday afternoon. The decision caused a political brawl as Opposition Leader Tony Abbott accused Gillard of falling asleep at the wheel and taking too long to act on the dispute. He accused Gillard of a failure of leadership, insisting she should have used her legislative powers to order unions back to work rather than leaving the issue at the discretion of FWA. "The government has the powers in the existing act to resolve this dispute," he told reporters in Canberra. "The Prime Minister should use them, and she should get the planes back in the skies safely as soon as possible." Qantas Chief Alan Joyce joined the war, saying that the airline had warned the government 10 days ago the dispute was approaching a critical point, while the Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) also said the industrial umpire and the federal government should have stepped in sooner.