Australian women suing Qatar Airways after invasive body searches criticise ‘disappointing’ Senate report
Australian women suing Qatar Airways after a “horrific” experience at Doha airport have criticised a Senate report into the airline’s blocked push for extra flights, claiming the investigation focused too much on Alan Joyce and Qantas, without holding the Qatari carrier to account. On Monday the Senate select committee on bilateral air service agreements – set up to examine the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flights into Australia’s major airports – released its report, urging the Albanese government to immediately review its decision. Through a month of hearings the inquiry examined questions about Qantas’s influence on the transport minister Catherine King’s decision – including grilling the airline’s new boss, Vanessa Hudson, and threatening her predecessor Joyce with jail if he failed to appear at a later date after his return from overseas – as well as broader accusations of anti-competitive behaviour and high airfares. The inquiry also canvassed the significance of an October 2020 episode at Doha airport, when female passengers were forced from planes at gunpoint and subjected to non-consensual invasive bodily inspections as authorities searched for the mother of a baby abandoned in a bathroom. Five Australian women are taking legal action against Qatar Airways, its subsidiary that owns Doha airport and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority. Marque Lawyers, the firm representing the women, have complained of a lack of cooperation from the Qatari parties and criticised their failure to directly apologise to the women. King revealed her intention to block the airline’s request for more routes in July, when responding to a letter that the women had sent her pleading not to grant the carrier extra rights. In the months of controversy that followed, she stressed their treatment was only one factor that provided context to the decision, amid a range of “national interest” considerations. Qatar Airways representatives told the inquiry such treatment would not be repeated and in the committee’s report on Monday the recommendations focused on reviewing the decision and better considering consumers, as well as noting that Qatar Airways had helped repatriate Australians during the pandemic and from Afghanistan in 2021.<br/>
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Australian women suing Qatar Airways after invasive body searches criticise ‘disappointing’ Senate report
Australian women suing Qatar Airways after a “horrific” experience at Doha airport have criticised a Senate report into the airline’s blocked push for extra flights, claiming the investigation focused too much on Alan Joyce and Qantas, without holding the Qatari carrier to account. On Monday the Senate select committee on bilateral air service agreements – set up to examine the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flights into Australia’s major airports – released its report, urging the Albanese government to immediately review its decision. Through a month of hearings the inquiry examined questions about Qantas’s influence on the transport minister Catherine King’s decision – including grilling the airline’s new boss, Vanessa Hudson, and threatening her predecessor Joyce with jail if he failed to appear at a later date after his return from overseas – as well as broader accusations of anti-competitive behaviour and high airfares. The inquiry also canvassed the significance of an October 2020 episode at Doha airport, when female passengers were forced from planes at gunpoint and subjected to non-consensual invasive bodily inspections as authorities searched for the mother of a baby abandoned in a bathroom. Five Australian women are taking legal action against Qatar Airways, its subsidiary that owns Doha airport and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority. Marque Lawyers, the firm representing the women, have complained of a lack of cooperation from the Qatari parties and criticised their failure to directly apologise to the women. King revealed her intention to block the airline’s request for more routes in July, when responding to a letter that the women had sent her pleading not to grant the carrier extra rights. In the months of controversy that followed, she stressed their treatment was only one factor that provided context to the decision, amid a range of “national interest” considerations. Qatar Airways representatives told the inquiry such treatment would not be repeated and in the committee’s report on Monday the recommendations focused on reviewing the decision and better considering consumers, as well as noting that Qatar Airways had helped repatriate Australians during the pandemic and from Afghanistan in 2021.<br/>
