The last flight out of Canberra was 35 minutes away, but the Qantas executives weren’t going anywhere.

Bridget McKenzie was in control of a lengthy Senate hearing last September when the airline’s general counsel, Andrew Finch, had the temerity to point out that he, chief executive Vanessa Hudson and chairman Richard Goyder needed to make a move. But despite more than three hours of interrogation, the Victorian Nationals senator wasn’t finished.