Friendly fire

He adds: “It’s puzzling when a party claiming to be progressive wants to compound out-dated interventionism with a market distorting loan guarantee specific to Qantas. This is a step down the Argentine road. ” Back to Qantas and Epstein makes a very telling point that if “Qantas needs a loan guarantee because it is at risk of catastrophic commercial failure, allegedly caused, in significant part, by its inability to secure repeal of the Qantas Sale Act” and if this is true “this is actually a good reason for a government to refuse Qantas a loan guarantee. ” Epstein adds that “a loan guarantee is not an assured risk; taxpayers would face a real prospect of being on the hook for billions if Qantas were as vulnerable as some have us believe. That is not in the national interest. ” And Epstein adds that “anyone who believes Qantas is the victim of a concerted conspiracy of three foreign governments should be ready for a call from someone selling the Sydney Harbour Bridge. ” Giving more ammunition to the anti-Qantas lobby Epstein claims that “Qantas is not essential to the integrity of the national financial system” and says Qantas does not have unique “national carrier” obligations to provide airlift capacity in times of need. ”

As a former Qantas executive who’s valued a friendship with Alan Joyce, it’s been difficult to watch the company take the path it has. DAVID EPSTEIN

He concedes that “Qantas has made great contributions in the past, but its status is no different to that of Virgin Australia. ” And he adds that “Government often uses more readily available charters and the RAAF now has unrivalled heavylift capacity in C-17 aircraft” (not to mention the KC‑30 – Ed).

Epstein warns that “Qantas’s tactics have alienated most of its important stakeholder groups in crucial ways over the past three years: investors, passengers and the government. The noisy debate has left a Prime Minister unimpressed and the share price has dropped below a dollar twice. ” “One can only imagine how Aviation Minister Warren Truss felt reading about correspondence to him on the front page of a newspaper before he had a chance to digest it in the privacy of his office,” said Epstein.

And Epstein makes a telling point when he says: “Fuelling a public debate about corporate welfare is an odd ploy for anyone looking for friends in Canberra when a new government was grappling with GrainCorp, the car industry and SPC Ardmona. Reinforcing it with front page leaks and a website borrowed from California community politics is odder still. ” Epstein finishes his extraordinary attack on the airline by saying: “Governments don’t like special interest monstering at the best of times, but it’s even worse when they can’t be sure of what you’re really asking for other than to hamstring competitors by any means fair or foul. ” Those with long memories will recall that in 2001 when Ansett Australia came begging to the government for help it was Qantas that was the first on the phone to then Treasurer Peter Costello lobbying against assistance.

It is time Qantas sorted out its own problems – most of which are of its own making.