The Qantas enigma !

Our iconic national airline is in deep trouble and anticipates that it will make a loss of up to three hundred million dollars in the first half of this calendar year.   That is unsustainable and Qantas is planning to shed five thousand jobs and cut two billion dollars from it's overhead expenses to return to profitability.

Unfortunately, solving an airline problem is now mired in politics, and there is every chance that political stone walling will make rescue impossible - and that would be a disaster for Australia.   Qantas is one of the world's oldest airlines and has an outstanding safety record.   If it were to close it's doors and cease to exist - a vast array of jobs would vanish with it and the " Flying Kangaroo " logo would no longer signify Australia to the world.

One rescue proposal proposed that the Federal government go guarantor for the company's debts - and this has rightly been rejected.  Qantas is a public company listed on the stock exchange and signing a blank cheque for it's debts could run to billions of dollars.   The precedent this would set would be the sort of thing resorted to by banana republics. 

Another request requires changing the " Australian content " rules that require Qantas to be fifty-one percent Australian owned.    It is competing against competitors who are owned by other national governments and there is a plan to split domestic and overseas services into separate companies - with the overseas form of Qantas Australian owned and foreign ownership permitted in the domestic arena.

This has been totally rejected by Labor, the Greens and the PUP.   On ideological grounds they insist on retaining majority Australian ownership and the unions have taken a hard stance on job shedding.  They are talking strike action - and that is the last thing an ailing airline needs when it is fighting for sheer survival.

There is no doubt that the Qantas problem is caused by bad management decisions.   In recent times, Air New Zealand was a similar basket case, but a brutal restructure has returned it to profitability - and Qantas can have a similar result if all concerned bite the bullet and go with the changes that are necessary.

The management of Qantas is a matter for it's shareholders.   It is a " for profit " company and the people who own it have the right to accept or dismiss the board and management team.    It is they who will decide what the future holds and the role of the Federal government will be to make any changes to legislation that is necessary to achieve a recovery plan.

Unfortunately, that looks uncertain.   The days when political parties legislated for the public good seem to have long passed.  Pure, dogmatic political opposition to one another now holds sway and point scoring is valued way above the issues confronting the country.

It seems that Qantas may become a victim of the political impasse !