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.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS