The Australian government said yesterday it wanted to put Qantas on a “level playing field” with its rival airlines but indicated it would not remove a cap on foreign ownership.
Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the government wanted to maintain the legal requirement that the country’s international airlines, including Qantas, were at least 51 percent Australian owned.
But he said that it may be timely to consider whether additional ownership restrictions imposed on Qantas were appropriate.
Under the Qantas Sale Act individual foreign airlines can hold a maximum stake of 25 percent in the company and aggregate foreign airline interests must not exceed 35 percent.
“By removing that, but maintaining the 51 percent Australian ownership of Qantas, I think you would achieve an outcome that is balanced,” Albanese told the National Press Club in Canberra.
The foreign ownership limit could potentially frustrate any attempt by Qantas to merge with a rival carrier, a move former Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon last week said was desirable given the challenges facing the industry.
Albanese said while the government wanted to move towards greater liberalization of the sector, Australia’s interests were paramount.
“It is not in the national interest for that cap to go,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that there can’t be consolidation or alliances. It is a constraint on the form of them but I think that we have got the balance right.” Albanese said.
He said because of Australia’s location as a distant island continent, the aviation industry was important not only for economic but security reasons.
“At each step we need to make sure that the Australian national interest is also looked after,” he said. “Because we, unlike the mid-hemisphere airlines, aren’t on the way to anywhere.”
Qantas said while it was unlikely the 49 percent limit on foreign investment in Australian international airlines would change, the government’s preparedness to look at other ownership restrictions was welcome.
“This is a step in the right direction which will set us on an equal footing with other Australian international carriers,” Alan Joyce said in a statement.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique