My understanding was Joyce said the government should not look after mismanaged companies - which is a reasonable statement. It would mean that Qantas would then be competing with the government.
Not for a minute do I think the Australian government would seriously re finance Virgin Australia. As much as some want Virgin to fail, I hope that Scurrah can turn this company into a lean and profitable operation once this hurdle is overcome. I think it will mean redundancies in both Virgin and Tiger, whatever the outcome.
Qantas is also not immune, and if the economy flatlines after the COVID threat disappears, pilots will also be out of jobs in that organisation. Joyce has already indicated how ruthless he is in managing this and previous events.