Everything that happened in the so called Qantas crisis today would support a suspicion that the airline’s management attempted to touch the public purse for $3 billion to distract attention from a sorry record of inept leadership.
Exhibit A is the revelation that Qantas asked for that amount of money as an unsecured loan, something that so affronted Treasurer Joe Hockey and it is understood, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott and deputy PM Warren Truss, that its group CEO will struggle to ever again command their former levels of respect.
However Exhibit B is the supporting evidence by cabinet sources, including Hockey, that when it began to look into Alan Joyce’s claims of impending ruin brought about by a level playing field, an accounting firm found that Qantas was in no risk of collapse now or in the foreseeable future and had the assets, resources and cash to trade it way out of its current loss making situation.
Labor was suckered by Joyce’s ploys, no doubt energised by the inevitable loss of some jobs at Qantas no matter what, but the Coalition didn’t.
The credibility of the Joyce management, what is left of it after some sackings today, is in tatters in government circles.
It is instructive to watch the expression on Treasurer Hockey’s face as he controls his response to be asked for a $3 billion unsecured loan in today’s live interviews.
“If you give an unsecured loan you don’t expect to see it again,” he said. Hockey compared it to a credit card with a $3 billion limit, paid for by taxpayers.
Abbott was equally composed at Question Time, when he praised Qantas as being a great business that the government wanted to help by setting it free so that it could compete equally with the other great Australian national carrier, Virgin Australia, as he earlier described it on several occasions.
The control of Abbott’s delivery was exquisite. The knife was being put into Qantas, and turned.
It would not be everyday that someone had the front to try and bounce the public purse for $3 billion to deflect attention from woefully poor strategy and governance at Qantas. But it worked a treat on the wrong side of the house, where the Labor position seems incredibly conflicted and inconsistent and shrill when it comes to Anthony Albanese babbling on about flying pandas and flying kangaroos and saying how vital Qantas was to the national interest days after it ditched its Qantas Defence Services to America’s Northrop Grumman.
The tragedy that is unfolding today is that while Qantas complains about the massive increase in capacity by international carriers (include through its gifting of Spirit of Australian believers to Emirates services) the market is thriving on demand that Qantas refused to serve.
It stood still on the freeway and has made itself road kill while everyone else went about their business of taking lollies off a fool.
The loss of jobs at Qantas, is, with some notable exceptions tonight, a tragedy. But some adjustment of jobs was inevitable even though in critical aspects in flying standards and engineering excellence, we can confidently expect management to get it wrong.
It is difficult to think of a single strategy that the Joyce Clifford management and its incapable board of directors have actually managed to get right.
Joyce has a long and inglorious record for pulling silly, and indeed costly stunts, with projects that never worked, and disastrous forays into Asia, but they may well have ended with his attempt to stampede billions of dollars worth of favouritism out of a hard nosed government.
Restoring the health of Qantas to a level where it can again raise money at favourable rates will take quite some time. But it won’t be given a short cut using public money.
Qantas attempting grand larceny under cover of a 'crisis'? | Plane Talking