Major player in Virgin bid reveals HQ preference

A HIGH-POWERED consortium bidding for Virgin has told unions it wants to keep the airline’s headquarters in Brisbane.

Ahead of the airline administrator today cutting potential bidders from four to two, Cyrus Capital Partners has told unions representing staff creditors it wants to keep Virgin in Queensland, dependent on State Government sweeteners.

Cyrus Capital is understood to have met with the ACTU and unions representing Virgin staff this week and made their pitch to employees as a bloc of creditors.

Virgin Australia, which flies 46 per cent of Gold Coast domestic visitors in via Brisbane and Coolangatta airports, collapsed into administration in April with debts totalling almost $7 billion.

A FORMER senior Palaszczuk Government adviser has accused the Premier of sending the economy into a “government-enforced drought” with the ongoing border block.

The damaging claim from ex-chief entrepreneur and Shark Tank judge Steve Baxter came as a Queensland minister would not say if there was any modelling on the economic impact of keeping the borders closed.

And the Morrison Government switched the focus of its border war attack with Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham promising to turn from critic to “singing her praises” if Annastacia Palaszczuk opened the borders.

“If Premier Palaszczuk can be the first premier of those states with restrictions to acknowledge Australia’s nationwide progress in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 and begin planning to safely ease border restrictions, then I will sing her praises from the rooftops and applaud the fact that she’s shown that sort of leadership,” he said.

“Tourism businesses currently have no choice and no access to international visitors and if we also leave them with no access to interstate visitors,