Minister claims public interest immunity on Qatar documents

afr.com:

Transport Minister Catherine King has refused to provide documents explaining her decision to deny Qatar Airways additional landing rights to the Senate, citing public interest immunity.

The refusal came a day after the minister asked for extra time to answer the request. The delay meant Ms King avoided having to answer questions about the issue in parliament, which rose on Thursday and will not resume until mid-October.

The minister will now go on two weeks’ leave during school holidays, as a Senate inquiry looms into her department’s handling of the matter.

Transport Minister Catherine King is going on leave while there’s a Senate Inquiry into her department. Alex Ellinghausen

In response to a request to hand over documents detailing her department’s advice on the matter of whether to grant Qatar additional landing rights as part of a bilateral agreement, as well as details regarding meetings with Qantas and other airlines, Ms King claimed public interest immunity.

In her letter responding to the request, delivered late on Thursday, Ms King said the government had made clear the bilateral air rights agreements were not commercial arrangements but treaty-level agreements between countries. She said the production of documents pertaining to the discussions would expose the nature of bilateral relations.

The lack of information about Ms King’s reasoning for blocking additional capacity, at a time when international airline capacity remains constrained and air fares are high, prompted criticism from other airlines and travel agents at the CAPA aviation conference in Brisbane on Thursday.

Flight Centre’s Graham Turner told the event “Australia desperately needs more capacity” and that Qatar would have helped to meet it. The