Lord Acton
 

Famous Quote
"Power tends to Corrupt"

This bloke really needs to find someone at The Fin who can explain how inflation is calculated.

Airfares are not a key factor in high inflation. New dwelling purchases, Rents, Medical and hospital services, Other financial services, Restaurant meals, Automotive fuel, Motor vehicles, Takeaway and fast foods, and Tobacco are key factors in inflation. They are all larger contributors to inflation than everything that is bundled up into the ABS expenditure sub-group called Domestic holiday travel. The Domestic holiday travel sub-group is made up of airfares, rail fares, bus fares, rental car hire, petrol used for self-drive travel, and holiday accommodation (hotel/motel, flat/house rental, and caravan hire/park fees).

Those first nine sub-groups (New dwelling purchases to Tobacco) in aggregate make up just shy of 40 percent of the CPI. Domestic holiday travel represents 2.43 percent, and domestic airfares make up only a proportion of that.

Moving down the pecking order in terms of contribution towards the CPI we have Maintenance and repair of dwelling, Electricity, Beer, Telecommunications, Wine, Secondary education, and Maintenance and repair of vehicle (in aggregate nearly 15 percent) before we get to the International holiday travel sub-group at 1.85 percent. And again, that sub-group is made up of a number of expenditure classes; airfares, "other" fares (mainly cruise line fares) and accommodation.

It is just rank nonsense to say that airfares are a key factor in high inflation.

And someone needs to acquaint him with the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) domestic airfare index data series. By no objective measure are domestic airfares at record highs.

Personally I would refer to the above as spin, that is to detract from the main point of the article and that is the benefit bestowed upon the PMs son. A bit like the way Qantas announce some new aircraft or green fuel initiative when ever there is a report out about them ripping off the their mug customers once again. It’s all about distracting the reader from the main point of the story.

It's not "spin", it's facts. If Joe wants to avoid the nonsense that he sprinkles his articles with detracting from the overall impact of the article, here's an idea - drop the nonsense.

Frankly, if you are that easily distracted from the main point of a story, well

You forgot the other sentence

"Absolutely power corrupts absolutely"

Seconded!! The odd economic slip up aside, this article nicely paints a picture of how “certain companies” continue to operate in Australia despite their glaring failure to abide by the laws that (should) keep them in line. Mates of mates of mates bury investigations or stop short of enforcing penalties when (industrial perhaps?) laws are broken etc…it’s rotten to the core.

Note how he says all the High Court judges are members so why didn’t they recuse themselves?

That looks like a CEO recruiting video.

It could pass for Crisis Management 101 or a Simple Guide to Australian Politics, perhaps both.

I think that you will find that all 50 or so Federal Court judges are also CL members. That didn't stop four of them making findings against Qantas in the same case.

Do you know they are as a fact? Secondly it can be appealed from the Federal Court it can’t from the HC. My own belief is no employee on the public purse , politicians, public servants etc should be allowed membership.

Seconded. But to add; And all Family members.

Does anyone apart from the Chairman, the CEO and some other Qantas employees know for a fact what the membership list is for the Chairman's Lounge?

Not the full list no, however politicians have to declare it. How can the head of CASA be a member and before you ask she admitted it in a Senate estimates hearing.

The membership of CL should be declared.
A potential conflict of interest was not disclosed if it was not declared.

It's how the IR team view the Unions.

I don't think CL membership for anyone in government would pass the pub test in a million years.

Joyce has just granted membership to the PM’s son.

Not just Qatar, but in Dubai my metal hip beeped going through the arch, as it always does; I was marched into a booth where I was subjected to a strip search by a person in the full black Saudi type garb, while a man with a machine gun watched and sniggered. Needless to say Emirates lost a good customer that day and I will never, ever travel through the Middle East again. Qantas direct to London every time now.

https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/202...-albanese.html

Qantas boss hits out over accusation of government influence

https://archive.md/lyL3f/50600661a73...ceb5f8df8.webp

By Amelia McGuire

August 3, 2023 — 7.45pm
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Normal text sizeALarger text sizeAVery large text sizeAOutgoing Qantas boss Alan Joyce has rejected allegations the federal government is in his pocket, after an application from Qatar Airways to add flights to Australia was rejected without explanation.
Qantas rival Virgin Australia has a close partnership with Qatar Airways and would have benefited from additional flights through its code-share relationship with the airline.
Joyce said he had often opposed the Albanese government, including whether to introduce multi-employer bargaining, and the outcome had not gone in the airline’s favour. https://archive.md/lyL3f/2aa01714b4e...1f665e483.webp Outgoing Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.CREDIT: RHETT WYMAN “The chief executive of Qantas or Virgin will always have a relationship with the government,” Joyce said on Thursday. “There are a lot of things I disagree with the government on, as well as lots we do agree on. That’s the way it works. It is just nonsense that we have unbelievable influence and I don’t know how that mindset has developed.
“If the government was doing the bidding of Qantas it wouldn’t have gone with multi-employer bargaining which is a much bigger issue,” Joyce said. “The prime minister had a go at me when we grounded the airline in 2011. To think that Qantas has this out-weighted influence on them is nonsense.”
Joyce was speaking after appearing on a panel with Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka and hosted by Virgin founder Brett Godfrey, who now chairs Tourism and Events Queensland.
Joyce declined to comment on whether Albanese’s son – Nathan Albanese – had been extended an invitation to the Qantas chairman’s lounge, as reported in The Australian Financial Review. The airline does not divulge who is invited into the exclusive lounge, which is usually reserved for executives of large companies and politicians.
“I’ve been good mates with Albo for some time, but the assumption that whatever I do would get political favours is not happening,” he said.The federal government has refused to explain why it rejected Qatar’s attempt to increase its services to Australia, beyond stating the application was not in line with the national interest.
The government’s refusal to explain the decision, particularly when it had support from the overwhelming majority of the tourism, aviation and political spectrum, has led to ongoing speculation about its relationship with the airline.
Flight Centre boss Graham “Skroo” Turner said limiting inbound capacity to Australia was a deliberate attempt to keep airfares high.
The Qatar Airways bid was also opposed by five Australian women who were subjected to invasive searches at Hamad International Airport by Qatari police before their flight with the airline in 2020.
The women were part of a larger group who were forced to undergo internal examinations after a newborn baby was abandoned in a bin at the airport. The women are now seeking damages from Qatar Airways and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority – which are both owned by the Qatari government – over the incident.
Transport Minister Catherine King said this month the decision was not made in response to the incident but is yet to comment further.
Hrdickla said the most important thing for local tourism was to increase the number of inbound tourists to the country.
“Job one is getting more inbound international flights to ensure there’s more opportunity to ensure there are more opportunities for inbound tourism.
“Right now, given the exchange rates, Australia should be great value for international tourists. It’s not because airfares are so high because there’s not enough capacity and there’s a huge amount of demand,” Hrdlicka said.