Goeing, I suspect you are right.
Governments take unoffical policy positions all the time - which is why sometimes they sit back and do nothing when a company gets in trouble, and at other times they are galvanised into activity.
These policy lines are usually treated as "conventional wisdom". Here are some old, and not so old, bits of conventional wisdom, some of which still unfortunately haunts us.
1. Due to economies of scale, Australia can only support one international airline (that was the excuse for doing nothing when Ansett went under).
2. Due to economies of scale Australia cannot support an aircraft manufacturing business (Vale CAC and GAF)
3. Australia has no competitive advantage in building light aircraft (vale Victa, and when an American company gets annoyed by competition from Gippsland Aeronautics, watch the government stand by while they buy it and close them down)
4. Australia can only support one defence shipbuilder ( Tenix - don't bother applying for more tenders - you wont get them)
This crap goes on all the time. Thye economies of scale bit is rubbish because the entire thrust of manufacturing technology for the last 40 years has been eliminate economies of scale and ensure that an economic order quantity = 1 item.
I could go on, Japanese car component companies actually send work here beacsue we can make short runs profitable.
It is entirely predictable in my opinion that the Government believes that there is only room for Qantas, and that dire things will happen if they are forced to compete.