TRANSCRIPT:
In July, the federal government said no to a Qatar Airways request to add 28 more Australian routes a week.
It's a ruling that has come under increasing scrutiny.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or ACCC, has said more Qatar flights into Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth would have lowered fares.
Transport Minister Catherine King says she doesn't agree.
"It's absolute nonsense frankly, that competition in Australia's international aviation market relies solely on Qatar. I mean, really - like that is just an absolute nonsense, and somehow seems to have got tied up with people's anger about Qantas - and I get that. I get people are angry at Qantas. I get that people are angry about the service standard and rightly they should be and we’ve criticised Qantas about that as well. But to suggest that competition in international aviation is solely hinged on Qatar is just an absolute nonsense."
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has come to Ms King's defence, arguing that Qatar could increase its Australian traffic any time it wants to.
"If Qatar Airways wants to run more flights in and out of Australia it can do that. It can run in and out Adelaide, in and out of Canberra, in and out of the Gold Coast, in and out of Cairns; it can increase the size of the jets. I think it's a pretty clear situation where people are saying they want more competition. Well, Qatar can offer those extra airfares right now."
The Senate will now hold an inquiry into the Qatar ruling.
Opposition Transport Spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie is convinced the government is pandering to Australia's national airline, Qantas, on a range of issues.
"Australians want an aviation industry that is affordable, that's reliable and that is safe. And right now that's not what they're getting... We need to get to the bottom of it, because heaven knows the Labor party doesn't know what it's doing with aviation."
Catherine King has repeatedly defended her decision, saying it was made in the national interest, not Qantas'.
It has also been revealed that five of the 13 women who were subject to strip searches in Qatar in 2020, when a baby was found abandoned in Doha airport, wrote to Minister King asking her not to let Qatar increase its presence in Australia.
The Minister says that incident was certainly of the things she considered in making up her mind.
"There is no one factor that I will point to that swayed my decision one way or the other. In making this decision, I did have the national interest, not commercial interest, at play when I was making that decision. Certainly for context, you know, this is the only airline that has something like that, that has happened. And so I can't say that I wasn't aware of it. But certainly it wasn't the only factor."
The furore looks set to continue despite the release of the government's new aviation discussion paper which outlines a range of reforms.
The transport minister says it's about bringing Australia’s aviation industry into the future.
"It's been a decade since we've actually had an aviation white paper in this country, and this really is an important step in reforming aviation across the country. We are as I said seeking to deliver a more competitive aviation sector. It covers issues of competition; it covers issues in relation to complaint handling processes, particularly when it comes to canvasing whether we do need a consumer bill of rights when it comes to aviation; it covers issues which have been at the forefront of my mind, particularly around accessibility of Australians who have a disability in aviation. We've seen again problems with that over a period of time."
