NEW England MP Barnaby Joyce holds "grave concerns" for local workers after Qantas announced it would axe 6000 jobs on Thursday.
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The cuts equate to 20 per cent of Qantas' total staff and will impact pilots, cabin crew, engineers, ground crew and corporate staff.
Mr Joyce said he was unsure if the cuts would impact Qantas employees in Tamworth or Armidale, but he would be lobbying to ensure the safety of their positions.
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"I hold grave concerns for all of those 6000 people first and foremost, in particular those who might be affected in our region," Mr Joyce told the Leader.
"We haven't heard anything yet about how it might impact our region, but I will be doing what I can to make sure we look after people in our area.
"I'm hoping, if anything, it is for the short term and that's why I'm advocating to get the economy up and running again.
"What Qantas is doing isn't willful or malicious it's unfortunate by reason of the circumstances they've been placed in by the pandemic, so while it is startling it is understandable."
The decision has drawn condemnation from Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine, who said Qantas and the federal government were equally to blame for the job losses.
"Before Qantas slashes thousands of workers' jobs and takes more of its planes down to the pawn shop, it should be lobbying the federal government for an extension to Jobkeeper and financial support to allow the airline to weather the crisis," Mr Kaine said.
"The Qantas CEO is very good at walking the halls of Canberra when it suits his agenda, yet he is quick to cut jobs and hang workers out to dry.
"We are demanding that he halt these redundancies until the federal government makes an announcement on Jobkeeper."
Mr Joyce hosed down those claims saying it was "not sustainable for the government to continue to borrow money from overseas".
"If we keep doing that we won't have an airline going broke we will have a government going broke," he said.
"I'm not saying we're close to that happening, but if we were we'd be in real strife.
"You can't just keep going on this trajectory of borrowing money from overseas and think there's no end to that.
"Governments are no different from people in that if you keep borrowing money and don't pay it back you will get yourself into strife."
Qantas was contacted for comment.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
