Doubtless a motion of no confidence would not have got up anyway but the important thing is that hundreds of shareholders cared enough to go out of their way to have a say. Probably many of these shareholders are current or retired Qantas staff who hold on to their shares, not in the hope that it will make them wealthy, but rather because of an old-fashioned concept known as pride of ownership, a concept that AJ and the board would not comprehend. The fact that hundreds of quality shareholders are being denied a voice is a bigger story than if the motion had been presented and defeated.