A report in The Sydney Morning Herald says that Transport Minister Mark Vaile says he is still waiting for confirmation from Qantas on whether it is complying with its 49% foreign ownership cap.
Mr Vaile wrote to the airline earlier this month to inquire if the cap had been breached during the failed takeover bid by Airline Partners Australia and today he said he had written to Qantas chairman Margaret Jackson again to seek the same information, but he believed the company was probably now in compliance with the foreign ownership rule.
“I believe it’s moving back into that situation now but I’m awaiting for final confirmation from Qantas,” Mr Vaile told the Nine Network.
Mr Vaile said new electronic registers were needed so companies like Qantas could easily check if they were complying with foreign ownership rules.
“I think that from my position there needs to be a better system in place with electronic registers and the like available today, that we can have a company like Qantas manage its share register better and almost on a weekly basis to make sure it is compliant,” he said.
Report by The Mole
