Axed skills program robs Qld of diesel mechanics: TWU

25/07/2012 - Cairns has been robbed of 30 bus drivers and diesel mechanics because of the axing of a skills program, the Transport Workers Union says.

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The Queensland government last week ended the Skilling Queensland for Work Program as part of its cost-cutting drive.

The union says the program's axing means Cairns will lose 10 bus drivers and up to 20 diesel mechanics.

"Cairns is crying out for drivers and mechanics, and the youth unemployment situation is catastrophic," the TWU's north Queensland organiser Janine Aitken said on Tuesday.

"And what do these fools (the government) do?

"They have just thrown another 30 youngsters on the scrapheap."

Cairns Institute director Professor Hurriyet Babacan has expressed concerns the public sector job cuts could exacerbate the city's homeless problem.

Meanwhile, jobs at Queensland's parliament house are also expected to be axed as part of the state government's cost cutting measures.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says she's not surprised.

"It just goes to show nothing is safe from this Newman government," she told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday.

"There is a cloud of uncertainty and it is going to affect frontline services."

Source: AAP

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