Ancient insight into Ansett and Qantas - mid 1980s

[medhead]

I was catching up on my reading about the release of the budget papers. I found the info in this story about Ansett and Qantas to be a rather interesting insight into the airline industry back in the 1980s, favouring one airline was still an issue acknowledged and ignored and the government; decision process remains relatively unchanged (regardless of who happens to be the political masters). Take for example the concern about benefitting Ansett because they had more business seats, while ignoring the benefit to TAA/Qantas who (apparently) had the only First seats.

I included the space stuff because who isn't interested in space stuff?

(NB this is an apolitical post*)

Not everything got up. Not even a ministry hailed as among the most decisive ever was able to agree on revoking the entitlement to first-class travel for all senior executive ranks in the public service. Prime minister Bob Hawke's recommendation that they be made to travel business class was seen to favour Ansett, which had more business-class seats, while the Finance Department's recommendation that top public servants be made to travel economy was a bridge too far, so no decision was recorded.

A call by Treasury for the price of refreshments in Parliament House to be increased was simply "noted" by the expenditure review committee, while the minister for transport agreed to consider the "essentiality" of spending $1 million on "feasibility studies on space projects".

From 'banana republic' to surplus, Keating's way




* Still some of those reading the political threads could certainly learn something about political history in Australia and what good government's can achieve from reading this story, as well