Overview of ABC News Daily: AI and Qantas jobs
ABC News Daily host Sam Hawley speaks with Australian Financial Review columnist James Thompson about Qantas’s plan to cut 850 corporate jobs as it modernises its technology, and what the move could signal for white-collar work across Australia. The discussion looks at how outsourcing can serve as a step toward automation, which roles may be most exposed, and how workers, businesses and governments might respond.
Qantas’s two-stage plan
Qantas is moving back-office work—including finance, marketing, procurement and parts ordering—to Accenture, with roles shifting from Australia to India over the coming years. Accenture will invest in Qantas’s technology systems and expects to earn back that investment through savings as it automates some of the work with AI.
The 850 affected roles are a small share of Qantas’s roughly 28,000 employees, most of whom work in frontline areas such as cabin crew, maintenance, engineering and piloting. The first changes are expected by mid-next year.
Why companies are adopting AI
Qantas says it needs to modernise quickly to meet changing customer expectations, including a possible future where AI agents book travel and interact with businesses’ systems. Thompson says the shift is happening quickly, while large companies may struggle to update their technology and skills fast enough.
The strategy also offers companies a way to cut costs before they are ready for a full AI rollout. Coles and Telstra have made deals with Accenture, while major banks are building their own AI teams, often in India, where labour costs are lower.
Which jobs may be affected
Thompson says process-driven white-collar work appears most exposed in the near term. Examples include roles in financial services, insurance, technology and back-office operations, where tasks follow established rules and use structured data.
But he cautions that many jobs involve messy decisions, workplace relationships and coordination across teams—areas where it is still unclear how well AI can perform. Longer term, humanoid robots could also affect physical work, though they might help with demanding tasks in healthcare and aged care.
Worker and government responses
The Australian Services Union criticised Qantas for moving work and skills offshore instead of training its existing workforce, and said it would fight the cuts. Thompson says workers may benefit from learning to use AI as it becomes more common in businesses, while governments will need to consider retraining and how to regulate automation. He raises the possibility of taxes on profits generated by robot workers, but notes that policy options remain uncertain.
Key takeaway
Thompson sees AI-related job losses already emerging, including at Qantas, Canva, Atlassian and banks. He expects more companies to consider cuts as economic pressure grows, though the pace and extent of displacement remain uncertain.