I wasn't sure where to place this but thought this thread as good as any !!
From the Fin Review Fri 16th Mar
Qantas Airways has been rocked by the sudden departures of two senior executives.
The head of government and public affairs Jim Carden and the head of corporate communication Justin Kelly resigned on Tuesday and left their positions immediately.
They reported directly to the group executive of government and corporate affairs, Olivia Wirth, who many say is the closest confidant of chief executive Alan Joyce.
Last night Ms Wirth confirmed Mr Carden and Mr Kelly had left the airline but declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding their departure. She said only that they had “resigned to pursue other interests”.
Both men were recent recruits, having joined Qantas last year.
Qantas’s relations with the Labor government were badly hurt last October by its dramatic decision to lock out workers and ground the airline over an industrial dispute.
Several Labor ministers condemned in the airline and the dispute is now being considered by Fair Work Australia.
Mr Carden was previously head of corporate affairs at Brisbane Airport. Mr Kelly joined the airline from the Nine newsroom in Sydney and before that was press secretary to NSW premier Morris Iemma.
Ms Wirth is unlikely to struggle to fill the two prestigious roles, which have traditionally been highly sought after.
The airline’s media and government relations functions at Qantas have changed significantly since Ms Wirth replaced former Rudd government chief of staff David Epstein, who left the national carrier to head public affairs at BHP Billiton.
Mr Epstein left the mining company in October after 11 months in the job. The two executives reporting directly to him at Qantas were Ms Wirth, who headed the media team, and Jane McKeon, head of government and international.
Ms McKeon was poached by Virgin Australia boss John Borghetti in 2010. Ms Wirth’s predecessor in charge of Qantas’s media relations was Belinda de Rome, who is now at Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi.
The dramatic action taken by the Qantas board to ground the airline also placed considerable pressure on the airline’s relationship with the Gillard government.
Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten attacked Ms Wirth in question time for her role in the dispute and alluded to her background as a former tourism adviser to Joe Hockey.
Flacks in flight from Qantas