This is a classic case of managment going off the rails.
When you run an airline that is going through severe cost cutting that may be having devastating effects on some of the staff that are being made redundant, then the management has to lead by example, no matter what the cost.
If they are that disinterested in the image they (as management) are projecting, that they couldn't manage their time appropriately enough to make the meeting in Melbourne, then that says more for who they are than any amount of backpedalling the CFO says in order to justify the expense.