[Wombat]

The. Elephant in the room, since at least 1975, is the preservation by Qantas of Sydney's position as the dominant international gateway to Australia because this status gives Sydney an inordinate share of inbound foreign investment into Australia.

This is the basis for Qantas deep and lasting connections with the NSW Labor and Liberal parties. In my opinion, Minister King got caught flat footed when she automatically deferred to Qantas in the spirit of this unspoken agreement without arranging for the necessary cover.

For those interested, Qantas ensures that overall, on a round trip basis, Sydney is about three hours closer to New York and London than Melbourne and Brisbane. Direct international air links are pivotal to selecting a destination for inbound international investment. Spend a day with a VPN and pretend to be a potential U.S or British investor and you will see what I mean; it is still difficult to avoid being carted to Sydney at some point. The lack of direct links cost Melbourne its position as the financial hub in the 1970's and secured Sydney the lions share of offshore IT investment in the,8o's and 90's.