I'm both a Qantas employee (with the long-service badge to prove it) and a Qantas shareholder.
Many of those commenters you mention are accurately reflecting the views of many employees and shareholders.
The exception is the very large corporate shareholders, who quite frankly couldn't give a toss about any direction at all as long as Qantas makes them money, or promises to make them money even when it's not actually doing so. It's like the stockbroker who recently caused a storm in the UK when interviewed on the BBC. He loves meltdowns and recessions in which people lose their homes and entire life savings, because he can make money out of it. The carnage and misery leftover doesn't bother him in the slightest, as long as his money is in the bank. He then moves onto the next project.
Big institutional investors loved HIH. They adored WorldCom and hero-worshipped the directors of Enron. Right up to the very last second where they lost everything.
The list goes on and on. That's what modern-day business reality has become, fatmike. I occasionally wonder what goes on inside the heads of big institutional investors, if it's anything decipherable at all.