The word 'basketcase' does not begin to describe Qantas

How do you do that if you are a transport company with 30 percent of your costs fossil fuels?

Well, you can buy offsets-pay Aussie farmers to plant trees, for example-but there is a limit to that before good cropland that could feed poor people is feeding rich people's travel habits instead.

And the reason we burn fossil fuels is that we were running out of trees to burn anyway, and that was in the 18th century, so the maths say you can't plant enough to make the difference.

A couple walk hand in hand down a lane lined with oak trees in the Port Arthur Historical Site in Australia on April 18, 2016. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The aviation industry has put its faith in "Sustainable Aviation Fuel." This is made from recycled cooking oils and forestry residues.

How many fish and chip shops do you need to recycle the grease from in order to fly one person to Europe, let alone a whole plane load? That you can run an international transport industry on it sounds like a load of codswallop to me.

Thankfully, no one is seriously talking battery planes, which, given the battery weight, would only work if you didn't carry passengers or luggage.

Mr. Joyce is probably across all of this, but the senators at his inquisition let him off lightly without asking any of the hard questions.

The hearing reminded me of how degraded not just politics is today but business. I remember when billionaire Kerry Packer fronted a senate inquiry with senators who, next to the current crop, look like giants, but he made them look like pygmies too.

Mr. Packer memorably said about his tax minimisation strategies, "You're not spending it [taxes] that well that we should be donating extra."

Mr. Joyce is not Mr. Packer, but that is part of the problem.

Mr. Packer commanded respect and deserved it because he was an owner. His reward in ensuring his companies ran well came out of his dividends, not his salary. There was no incentive for him to squib on investment for the sake of a short-term share price boost.