Originally Posted by
mmmbop
Double Clutch, Virgin isn't 'partly owned by overseas companies, it's pretty much fully owned!
Qantas has a 49% cap on foreign ownership.
Virgin is over 91% foreign owned. My taxpayer dollars aren't going to be used saving a grossly mismanaged company that is over 91% foreign owned.
The problem for Virgin's survival is two fold. The foreign ownership, and the core belief in the free market rather than government ownership of assets. The deal needs to be done so that the Chinese,SIA,Etihad& Branson are removed from the company. So if that means it has to collapse before being reborn, I'd suggest that is the government's view.
I'd also suggest that Virgin isn't going to disappear (I hope not) and that a certain deal will be done. But we will just have to wait and see.
It’s interesting when people refer to the free market - because the market is exactly the opposite to that right now. In fact there is no market because of (the correct) government actions.
And for those that think the free market is the answer to everything - I assume you don’t support the money on offer to regional airlines? Or the money being spent keeping childcare centres open. Or the money being given to universities to help them offset the massive loss in revenue from foreign students. I also assume you’ll hand back any job keeper subsidy you (or your company) is receiving because sure as hell having the government chip in $3k a month per employee isn’t a free market either.