Virgin move prudent
I READ Michael Addison’s letter to the editor in Saturday’s paper (16/5), and personally, I find his assessment of the Queensland Government’s bid to invest in Virgin Australia as short sighted, and laden with some added mistruths about the situation.
The Queensland
Government is not buying
Virgin directly, but a stateowned entity known as the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) is looking to partner and invest in a stake in Virgin Australia.
Unknown to many Queenslanders, QIC holds significant shares in retail assets here in Australia and the United States, and holds interests in utility providers in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The Queensland Government provides money to QIC to invest and then portions of the return goes towards making other investments, and another portion gets put back into state coffers. Not only will any investment by QIC into Virgin support the retention of jobs in the state, but if they are able to turn their fortunes around, it can become an income-generating asset for the state, which in turn can lead to more funding for infrastructure, particularly in our state’s aviation sector, and to support the state’s service delivery obligations (such as paying the wages of public sector workers).
Mr Addison only looks at the direct company influences when sharing his concerns but fails to see the indirect benefits of any investment.
While yes, Virgin Australia itself may not have paid tax, their employees sure do, and any loss of income tax revenue in this current environment will be to our own long-term detriment.
In addition to this, losing competition in our aviation sector only makes our regional centres (including Townsville) less accessible to the rest of the country (and the world), and our regional communities which rely on tourism dollars will suffer the most.
As for the levels of public debt of the state of Queensland, given the recent spending by all jurisdiction (including federal and local governments) to combat the economic uncertainty of COVID-19, the reality is, public debt will be an issue that will affect all levels of government for quite some time, and further public spending may still be required to assist in softening the blow of an economic downturn, and may even assist with economy recovery post-pandemic.
Maybe an investment in something that may generate an income longer term might actually be a sensible thing to do in this current economic climate.
I applaud our new Treasurer, Cameron Dick, in his decision to direct the Queensland Investment Corporation to make a case for a stake in Virgin Australia, and I believe any investment, along with a restructure of the airline, will be good for our state, and good for our local Townsville community.
BENJAMIN GERTZ,
Annandale.