In my experience the base managers are not told anything either.
When Alison Webster visited she firmly committed to the Cairns base remaining operational for some time. So, if anything changes we can point the finger at her. Our current base manager is very supportive of the Cairns base and its crew.
Bring on secondments to QCCA. If they did this in the beginning we all would have taken off down south. Cairns has a base of 'true' Long Haul hosties in it.