Kiwis 'close friends, allies'

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Australian political leaders yesterday moved to shore up strained transtasman relations as the nation reluctantly accepted Air New Zealand's cash offer of $A150 million to Ansett.

Although Transport Minister John Anderson refused to back away from his bitter criticism of the Air NZ board, he urged Australians to resist "what might be called Kiwi-bashing out of this".

"The New Zealanders are close friends and close allies - about as close relations as we have with any other country in the world ... We have no argument with the New Zealand people or the people who work for Air NZ or the New Zealand Government over this."

Shadow Transport Minister Martin Ferguson said the transtasman relationship had been soured by the Ansett collapse.

"The offer by Air NZ represents the starting point to try to rebuild a relationship which historically has been very strong and it is now a question of looking at the finer detail as to whether the offer is adequate," he said.

He warned that the investigation by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission of Air NZ's management of Ansett would continue.

Mr Ferguson said that, while he was pleased that Air NZ and the New Zealand Government had finally acknowledged their responsibilities, Ansett workers should not be short-changed.

"There is a very large gap between what has been offered and the full cost of the workers' accumulated entitlements."

Unions said that the deal applied only to the settlement of claims and would not protect Air NZ from any breach of corporation law.

But they also accepted that the deal was probably the best that could be expected without expensive and time-consuming litigation.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Greg Combet said that unless the Air NZ offer was accepted, the airline would be forced into statutory management or liquidation.

"It could take years, it could take very expensive and extensive litigation for the employees to get anything."

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