Aussies have vented their anger at Qantas after the taxpayer-subsidised airline announced it was axing 850 jobs, most of which are being outsourced to India.
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson announced the cuts in an internal all-staff email on Tuesday, despite vowing to attempt to bring jobs back to Australia when she took over from her homosexual Irish predecessor Alan Joyce three years ago.
She said the redundancies would start in mid-2027 as a result of a new partnership with Indian tech company Accenture, and said the move would “allow us to unlock innovation faster and accelerate our use of AI, with lasting benefits”.
But many Australians expressed their disgust at the flag carrier airline, which made a statutory profit of $1.29 billion in the last financial year, received $2.7 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies during Covid that it is does not intend to pay back, and makes about $250 million/year from government travel.
QANTAS is disrespecting the Australian people.
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇫🇷🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) November 10, 2026
Labor’s digital minister Andrew Charlton sold his ‘consultancy’ business to Accenture in 2020 for 35 million, almost all of the price was for ‘goodwill’. He then worked for Accenture for a year before becoming the Labor MP for the then safe seat of Parramatta. Accenture get so many massive taxpayer funded contracts, like almost 100 million they got for the disastrous BOM website. That didn’t slow down further Govt contracts for Accenture. Now Qantas sack 850 workers and sling Accenture a vast sum to handle the jobs from India. We are so let down by our leaders.
— Dave Hughes (@DHughesy) November 10, 2026
Australian taxpayers spend an estimated $200 million a year with Qantas through government travel.
Qantas also received $2.7 billion in taxpayer-funded COVID assistance, which it never repaid.
Now it’s moving most of its jobs to India. https://t.co/P0xOKoObu6
— Caldron Pool (@CaldronPool) November 10, 2026
“Qantas is disrespecting the Australian people,” wrote independent journalist Drew Pavlou.
“We gave Qantas a boatload of money to keep them going back in Covid when all sorts of other businesses were going ar*e over head. The loyalty to us and their staff? F*cking zero! Let’s just lay off people here and send jobs overseas! Bastards!” wrote political commentator Mike Williams.
“Wow after all the taxpayer money showered on them during Covid. Anthony Albanese, maybe you could take it with Qantas next time you’re letting off steam in the Chairman’s Club,” wrote another X user, referring to the Prime Minister’s airport lounge privileges.
Comedian Dave Hughes pointed out that senior Labor MP Andrew Charlton sold his company to Accenture in 2020 and then got a job with the Indian firm before being parachuted into his safe seat.
“Accenture get so many massive taxpayer funded contracts, like the almost $100 million they got for the disastrous BOM website. That didn’t slow down further government contracts for Accenture,” he wrote.
“Now Qantas sack 850 workers and sling Accenture a vast sum to handle the jobs from India. We are so let down by our leaders.”
Qantas. The Spirit of India. https://t.co/khjq4lV8wS
— Havee S Chu Chu (@HaveeSnowball) November 10, 2026
Others shared photos of rubbish-filled Indian rivers and streets captioned “Qantas. The spirit of India” – a reference to the airline’s “Spirit of Australia” advertising slogan.
The Australian Services Union (ASU) also criticised the cuts, with NSW and ACT secretary Angus McFarland calling them a “gut-wrenching blow” to workers and questioning Qantas’s claims that AI was to blame.
“Qantas wants us to believe this is about artificial intelligence and the future of aviation. But there’s really nothing innovative about shipping Australian jobs overseas to cut costs,” Mr McFarland said.
In August supermarket giant Coles revealed it was sending about 1,000 jobs to India as part of its own deal with Accenture.
Telstra, the country’s largest telecommunications company, which like Qantas was once government-owned, made a $700 million deal with Accenture in 2025, and announced hundreds of job cuts earlier this year, while Woolworths and the Commonwealth Bank also sent hundreds of jobs each to India.
Header image: Left, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson (UNSW). Right, Qantas HQ in Sydney (MDRX, CC BY-SA 4.0).
