Anthony Albanese faces King-hit on Qatar claim

Catherine King has brought into question Anthony Albanese’s claim he was unaware of the blocking of Qatar Airways during his July 13 phone call with Virgin’s CEO.

Catherine King speaks to the media during a press conference at Canberra Airport. Picture: AAP

Transport Minister Catherine King has brought into question Anthony Albanese’s claim that he was unaware of the blocking of Qatar Airways during his July 13 phone call with Virgin boss Jayne Hrdlicka.

Ms King repeatedly refused to tell parliament on Tuesday when she informed the Prime Minister of her July 10 decision, only saying it was before the media first reported it on July 18.

The answer leaves open the possibility that Mr Albanese or his office were told of the Qatar decision in the three days before his conversation with Ms Hrdlicka – despite his insistence to the contrary on Tuesday.

Ms King has also made clear that a letter sent to her by five women who were subjected to horrific internal examinations in Doha in October 2020 shaped her thinking on the decision to reject the Qatar Airways bid for further air rights.

Speaking at Canberra airport on Thursday where she released the government’s aviation green paper, Ms King said that Qatar Airways was the “only airline that has something like that where that has happened”.

“I received a letter from Marque Lawyers on behalf of these women detailing their ­experiences which are pretty awful,” she said. “They are frankly not anything we would expect anyone, and certainly not Australians travelling on an international airline, to experience.”

The letter sent by the women, who are now taking legal action against Qatar, detailed how they were waiting to take off from Doha on a flight to Sydney on October 2, 2020, when armed guards forced them off the plane without explanation.

“It is our strong belief that Qatar Airways is not fit to carry passengers around the globe let alone to major Australian airports,” the letter reads.

“Qatar Airways allowed and directed us to be taken off the flight, including one of us who was with our four-month-old child at the time and one of us who is legally blind and in their 70s. We were kept hostage at gunpoint and most of us were then examined vaginally without consent.

“Our human rights were blatantly violated, and yet Qatar Airways has refused to engage with us or offer an apology for how we were treated on that night,” the letter reads.

“When you are considering Qatar Airways’ bid for extra landing rights, we beg you to consider its insensitive and irresponsible treatment of us and its failure to ensure the safety and dignity of its passengers.

“We ask that you give careful consideration to the fact that Qatar Airways refused to meet with us and resolve our complaints amicably, despite the fact some of us were sexually violated during the incident while passengers on-board their airline.”

On Tuesday, Mr Albanese told the parliament he was unaware of the Qatar decision when he spoke with Ms Hrdlicka by phone from Perth on July 13 while in transit to Canberra from the NATO summit. Asked repeatedly in parliament on Thursday to explain when she informed the Prime Minister of her July 10 decision, Ms King refused to provide an exact date. She instead said Mr Albanese was told prior to the decision first being reported on July 18.

“I informed the Prime Minister prior to my decision being made public,” Ms King said.

The answer leaves open the prospect of Ms King having informed the Prime Minister or his office any time from July 10 – including before his phone call with Ms Hrdlicka.

If this is the case, it would clash with Mr Albanese’s explanation to parliament and expose him to a charge of misleading the house.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie told The Australian Ms King needed to reveal the exact date she passed on her decision to the Prime Minister. “The incompetence of this minister continues to astound,” she said. “What is the minister’s problem with giving us a straight answer. Who did you tell? When did you tell them and what was the reason?”

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Peter Dutton said it was unbelievable that Ms King could not recall the date on which she had informed the Prime Minister of her decision to reject the Qatar application.

“We have a minister who is not being honest with the Australian public,” he said.

“There are ministers in this government who, when in opposition, made a very significant issue around transparency. And that was one of the hallmarks of the Albanese leadership when he took control of the Labor Party.”

The Opposition Leader also repeated his claim the Qatar decision was part of a “sweetheart deal” between the government and Qantas, accusing Ms King of failing to give any clear explanation for knocking back the bid.

He said the government had cycled through nine separate justifications and took aim at Ms King’s elevation of the “abhorrent” treatment by Qatar of the Australian women who were subjected to the invasive physical searches in October 2020 as a ­potential factor in her decision.

“She used that as the latest excuse for why she rejected the application for Qatar to apply additional routes to their network here in Australia,” Mr Dutton told parliament. “It doesn’t take too long to contemplate why that is a flawed argument.

“The fact is that Qatar Airways already comes into Australia. If the minister is so aggrieved by the shocking conduct and the treatment of those women in Qatar, why wouldn’t she have stopped the Qatar Airways Group from their current exposure and usage of the routes here in Australia?

“That’s not the reason why the minister took a decision in relation to these matters. It’s obvious that there is a very close and personal relationship between the Prime Minister of this country, Mr Albanese, and Mr Alan Joyce, the outgoing chief executive of Qantas Airways.”

In her defence of the Qatar decision, Ms King said the request from Qatar Airways for an additional 28 flights per week into Australia was “four times more than any previous request”.

“That amount … has never been granted,” she said on Thursday. She also argued that it was a “nonsense that competition in Australia’s international aviation market relies solely on Qatar”.

“I get people are angry at Qantas. I get that people are angry about the service standards,” she said. “But to suggest that competition in international aviation is solely hinged on Qatar is just an absolute nonsense.”