Qantas domestic - mopping up the blood

Mr Higginson served for more than 12 years as Chairman of TransGrid, the NSW high voltage power transmitter. He was highly regarded by former Premier Bob Carr as well as by his lieutenant, Treasurer Michael Egan, before falling out of favour last November with Egan’s replacement as Treasurer, Mr Michael Costa. Mr Higginson has a wealth of experience as chairman or director in the private, public and NGO sectors. His addition to the board, if not as chairman, then as director would be a positive for the airline.

As for other possible directors, given his intellect, straight talking and demonstrated integrity throughout the entire takeover fiasco, Balance Equity Management’s Mr Andrew Sisson has surely earned a seat on the board. And his 5.3 per cent stock holding must count for something.

Fellow shareholder, UBS Global Asset Management’s Mr Paul Fiani (who has been a touch quiet with his opinions) with his 6 per cent stock of Qantas shares could be reluctant to join the board given his employer’s role as potential advisor to Qantas in any future bid. I mean, having shares in, advising on, and sitting on the board of the airline could give new meaning to conflict of interest.

Mr Sisson’s appointment should be seen as the voice not only of the 11 per cent+ shares of he and UBS control, but rather as the voice of the thousands of mute “mum and dad” shareholders (not to mention large hedge funds) who are united in their belief that they were shafted by the current board.

Oh, and another thing. Smart move having the AGM after the federal election. While Qantas loudly champions AWAs, if the socialists under Mr Rudd happen to win, then the airline has the opportunity to appoint a well connected ALP “mate” to join the board, doesn’t it?

In any event, shareholders must be vigilant that political board appointees (be they conservative or socialist) are not made at the expense of persons with commercial talent.

Case in point: while running over possible candidate names, the former Federal Transport Minister, John Anderson, would surely loom large on the Qantas executive team’s radar. While he sat in Cabinet, the Member for Gwydir (NSW) was so ebullient in his support for Monopolistic Marsupial, that some thought he really was the Member for Qantas and not some rural NSW seat (greater in size than England and Scotland combined) bordering the Sunshine state. Inviting him to the board would send the wrong signal to Qantas shareholders in particular, and to the market in general.

Whereas adding Professor Hilmer, Philip Higginson and Andrew Sisson to the board - sooner rather than later - will do a lot to mop up the bad blood between the current board and Qantas shareholders. And there’s a hell of a lot of mopping up to do.