Not so much Matt Canavan but the senior government ministers quoted at the start of the article. Canavan isn’t a minister any more.
I suspect this is a problem for them now as the Gov will be looking at a QF bailout with the shutdown of INT continuing.
This would have been far easier with a BGH bid as they would be helping out two “little Aussie battler” airlines. Now the gov is politically boxed in as they have said they won’t bail out foreign owners. Unless they are Rex.
Honestly, I read it just as a couple of members are doing the token 'my electorate may suffer' blah blah thing that ALWAYS happens so they can say they 'stuck up for their electorate'. And Mat Canavan is just irrelevant these days anyway. Fed Gov hasn't budged from their position on VA1 and there is no public drive for them to - people don't really care which US PE firm buys them, with what partners.
Everyone know if QF needs assistance they will get it, they are the national carrier and are subject to different and restrictive capital structure rules for the 'privilege'.
They are far too big and strategically critical for our country to fail - or even 'suffer' too badly. And they are a extremely well run business, unlike the former VA1 which was a basket case with deep pocketed foreign and foreign state backed owners that elected not to save the company. The situation and optics would be COMPLETELY different.
My bet and I'll put money down
: I would suspect if QF needed it, they would probably get either a 'targeted' Gov support package for example that supported QFi specifically, and/or perhaps once VA2 is up and running, (recapitalised by Wall St) - the Feds might come in with a broader industry package for both QF and VA2 - of which QF would get the most $ on absolute terms being the far bigger carrier, but split proportionally with VA2.
The Feds just didn't want to pour money down the drain after VA1 that's all, it would have been a complete waste of taxpayers money. VA2, recapitalised and being supported along with QF also being supported is a different situation.