The coordinated timing of two key letters sent by the federal government about its decision to block extra flights for Qatar Airways, released under freedom of information, raise fresh questions about the role an incident at Doha airport played in the rejection.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) was consulted over a letter that the transport minister, Catherine King, was preparing to send to five Australian women suing Qatar Airways, telling them the airline’s push for more flights had been rejected, FoI documents reveal.
The transport department also sought advice from Dfat about the wording of a separate letter it was to send to the Qatari government formally rejecting the request for 28 extra weekly flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
The documents also reveal the Australian government heavily coordinated the timing of both letters when it formally rejected the request in July.
The communications between the departments were obtained by Guardian Australia under a freedom of information request.
The five women King wrote to in July had been among female passengers who in October 2020 were forced off planes at gunpoint at Doha airport and intimately examined without permission as authorities searched for the mother of a baby who had been abandoned in an airport toilet.
The women are seeking damages from Qatar Airways and the Qatari government, and had lobbied King to reject the request for extra flights.
King and government ministers have repeatedly refused to provide reasons for the decision, citing that Qatar Airways expansion would be against the “national interest”.
King initially played down the significance of the Doha airport incident in the rejection, but later acknowledged it was a factor that provided context for her decision.
She has also faced questions about the influence of Qantas – which lobbied her against granting Qatar Airways extra flights – in the rejection.
Details of the advice that Dfat officials provided to the transport department, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, and King herself have been redacted, as King previously claimed public interest immunity out of concern that details around her refusal of the request would damage international relations.
However, in the days before King officially notified the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority – which lodged the request on Qatar Airways’ behalf – Dfat officials providing advice in the drafting of the letter were aware of the separate letter King intended to send the five Australian women, via the law firm representing them, Marque Lawyers.
Senate inquiry hearings examining the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request heard evidence last week that after Qatar first began the process of applying for more flights in October 2022, King was provided a department brief with advice in January, but waited until July to make a decision. Qatar Airways officials told the inquiry they received the official rejection via the QCAA on 14 July.
Separately, King’s letter to the five women informing them that no extra air rights for the Qatari carrier were being considered was sent to Marque Lawyers on 17 July, but dated 10 July.
FoI documents suggest King’s letter to the women had been shown to Dfat before it was later consulted for advice of the official rejection letter the transport department was going to send to the QCAA.
“If you also know when the King reply letter to Marque goes out, appreciate you letting us know,” a bureaucrat from Dfat’s Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan division sent a transport department official on 14 July, in an email chain where Dfat suggested “some very minor changes” to the draft of the official rejection letter the transport department was about to send to the Qatari authorities.
Hours after Dfat provided advice to the official rejection letter, it was sent to Qatari officials. Dfat officials were told the letter to Marque had not yet been sent.
Three days later, another email was sent from the Dfat division to the transport department following up on King’s letter to the five women. “Has the Min[ister] King letter to Marque gone out?” it said. A transport department official replied a week later that King’s letter had been sent on 17 July.
Qatar Airways executives told a Senate inquiry into the decision last week they were “surprised and shocked” by the decision to “unfairly” reject its proposed Australian expansion.
“Even more surprising was that the government gave us no reason for rejecting our application,” the airline’s senior vice-president of global sales, Matt Raos, told the committee.
On Tuesday, King shot down calls for her to appear before a Senate inquiry examining her decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request for extra flights to Australia, labelling the inquiry “a political stunt”.
Questions about King’s meetings with the former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce had been raised throughout hearings last week, with the committee chair, Bridget McKenzie, calling for both King and Joyce to front the inquiry.
