The Qantas Sale Act requires a minimum of two-thirds of the board to be Australians, including the chairperson. It requires Qantas to be incorporated and headquartered in Australia and for Australia to be its main international operations centre. More particularly, the viability of its international business relies on the airline being Australian. Its portfolio of bilateral rights to international routes (negotiated by the Federal Government) is dependent on its ability to show that it is effectively controlled and substantially owned in Australia and that Australia is its principal place of business. Governments around the world, confronted by ailing national carriers, are taking a somewhat less stringent view of the point at which control and ownership create issues. But for the foreseeable future, Qantas has to remain an Australian company if it is not to jeopardise its international franchise.