The chairman of Qantas, Leigh Clifford, has brushed aside calls for the airline's leadership to step

The chairman of Qantas, Leigh Clifford, has brushed aside calls for the airline's leadership to step down and argued that the national carrier occupies a special role in the Australian economy, as it seeks to win legal changes and financial backing from the Abbott government.
His comment came while speaking at the annual dinner of the free-market HR Nicholls Society in Melbourne. His invitation stemmed mostly from his role running the hardline mining giant Rio Tinto, but his tenure at Qantas covered the time of the dramatic decision to ground all flights globally in 2011 to break a bargaining deadlock with aviation unions.
"The airline industry globally is different ambassador hotel bangkok from any other industry there's limitations on foreign carriers in the United States, and there's a requirement that US airlines, in the event of a crisis, can meet airlift capacity, ambassador hotel bangkok he said. Australia is probably one of the most open markets ambassador hotel bangkok in the world, if not the most open market for airlines in which to operate. You can be 100% foreign owned but operate domestically in Australia."
He said business was keen for the government to move a "little faster" given signs that the economy was slowing and many businesses were facing challenging times, but it was hard to argue its case more while acknowledging that "executive excesses" had undermined their credibility.