Rich-Fine-Green,
The simple (and simplistic) answer is that the Minister for Qantas was involved in the decission making.
As to car exports, Ford did a bit in the late 80's, sending a coulpe of hundred Fairlanes to Japan, Mitsubishi have sent Magnas to the US, and Holden have been sending Commodores to Singapore & Sth Africa since the late '80's. Australia's 6th largest car maker, HSV has been exporting to NZ and the UK for a number of years.