A lot of what is going on here at the moment with Qantas is posturing the public and political environment for the move of more of the company offshore - hence the Joyce speech to the National Press Club two months prior to the release of the final year results and the announcement of what will no doubt be a significant change in the 'group' strategy for Qantas mainline. So we're kept waiting and the board listen for public comment in the meantime to judge public and political sentiment.
It is unhelpful when someone with a public aviation and business profile such as Dick Smith to adds weight or even implicit support to the eventually flawed strategy that the Qantas CEO and the board are looking to pursue.
Such comments from Dick Smith are irresponsible, and even more mind-boggling when for so long he has claimed to be a champion of the cause of local businesses over the foreign owned entities and I for one will remember his words when I don't have a job anymore. He can troll out all the letters he has written and he can claim tacit support for Aussie jobs, but the headline he has created is all that matters - what I read and what the public reads is "Qantas should move to Asia or go broke". If he was fair dinkum about trying to level the aviation playing field with respect to foreign carriers and open skies he'd keep his public mouth shut and quietly talk to Julia and Albanese et al first.
