[Peetwo]

Miniscule King's office tell's Senate to 'Get Stuffed'?? -       

Via the SMH:

Alan Joyce faces jail threat if he fails to appear at inquiry

Angus Thompson and Jessica Yun

Updated September 28, 2023 — 6.48pmfirst published at 3.56pm

Transport Minister Catherine King will be called to front the parliamentary inquiry into Qatar Airways’ rejected bid for more Australian flights after her office was accused of hindering her own department’s attempt to find out if she had met former Qantas chief Alan Joyce about the application.

Amid speculation over whether Qantas has an outsized influence on government, the Coalition launched the Senate inquiry earlier this month into King’s decision to block Qatar’s application to add 21 flights a week to Australia. Experts say the extra flights would have brought down airfares and added up to $1 billion a year to the Australian economy.


Transport Minister Catherine King will be called to front a Senate committee over her decision to reject Qatar Airways’ bid for more Australian flights.CREDIT:ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN

Inquiry chair and opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said Joyce, who is overseas, would be “summonsed on touchdown” to face the Senate committee, and that he and King were among the few who could shed light on the decision after senior bureaucrats were gagged from going into detail about their advice due to a public interest immunity claim by King.

Joyce will be summoned by the committee to attend a hearing at a later date after he declined an invitation due to “personal commitments”.

“And he will be required to attend to the committee’s questions,” McKenzie said, adding that an MP had been jailed in the 1950s for refusing a summons.

“If they don’t show up, there are further steps that can be taken.”


Liberal senator Simon Birmingham urged King to front up to the inquiry when called.NGHAUSEN

Liberal senator and foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the committee had resolved to take the rare step of asking the lower house minister to appear before the upper house committee.

“If Minister King has got nothing to hide, then she should turn up and answer questions that the department cannot,” he said.

“We’ve waited until today to make this request because we had hoped that the ordinary course of asking departments questions would yield answers. But it turns out that the department is being stonewalled itself by Minister King’s office.”

A usually placid Birmingham reacted angrily during the committee hearing when Department of Transport deputy secretary Marisa Purvis-Smith read from a text message from King’s office that the committee should contact them directly after she sought to clarify if King had met Joyce on January 23.

“If Minister King’s office is saying ‘get stuffed’ when her own department is seeking to provide information to this committee, then Minister King should front up herself, because that’s the situation we’re left with here,” he said.

King’s office said on Thursday afternoon no request to attend had been received. The minister is on leave and has claimed public interest immunity over documents, including departmental advice, relating to her decision, which bureaucrats fronting the inquiry said forbade them from going into certain details.

Virgin chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka told the inquiry on Wednesday she had spoken with King on January 20, and that King had indicated the mandate for negotiations with Qatar would be released the following week.

Hrdlicka, whose airline is a commercial partner of Qatar Airways, also told the committee King said she was expecting to meet Joyce the following Monday, and that he had conveyed he was displeased the government was entertaining Qatar’s application for extra flights.

Transport officials told the inquiry on Thursday that only Qantas and Virgin were consulted before forming their advice, which was finalised on January 4 – six months before the minister made her decision to reject it.

King consulted Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong over Qatar’s application for extra flights on January 19, with the latter seeking advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Middle East and Africa division relating to the application.

The division’s first assistant secretary, Ridwaan Jadwat, said he was unable to disclose the content of the advice provided, and “the next time that we had any interaction about this issue was when we heard on the 12th of July, that Minister King had made a decision in relation to the request by Qatar Airways”.

It has previously been reported that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wasn’t aware of the decision by this stage.

Wong has previously spoken out about the treatment of Australian women who were strip-searched at Doha Airport in October 2020. It is not known whether that was part of the advice given King’s office.

Via Hansard (ref: CBASA Senate Inquiry - Update: 29/09/23):

CHAIR: Do you need to go into camera, Ms Purvis-Smith, to give us the answer?

Ms Purvis-Smith: No, I don't. We don't have access. Any request in relation to outcomes of discussions that the minister may have had where the department was not in attendance would need to be made directly to the minister and her office.

Senator BIRMINGHAM: Ms Purvis-Smith, you were very helpful and upfront before in indicating that you had sent a message to your team to ask them to ask the minister's office.

Ms Purvis-Smith: I said I would see what I can do, and the outcome is that any request would need to be directed directly to the minister's office and to the minister.

Senator BIRMINGHAM: So that is what the minister's office has come back to your team with?

Ms Purvis-Smith: That's the advice I have received—that the request be—

Senator BIRMINGHAM: I would like the precise wording of that advice and how it was provided.

Ms Purvis-Smith: I've just received that from my team, so we don't have—

Senator BIRMINGHAM: You received it by message while you've been sitting there?

Ms Purvis-Smith: I don't have any—

Senator BIRMINGHAM: Have you received it by message while you've been sitting there? Would you like to read the message to me?

Ms Purvis-Smith: It might not be to me, sorry.

Senator BIRMINGHAM: Take your time. It's okay. I'm very happy to wait for this.

Ms Purvis-Smith: Yes, it did. I was looking at the wrong text message; my apologies.

Senator BIRMINGHAM: That's okay. We all have those challenges.

Ms Purvis-Smith: The text message I received is: 'MO view is it is not for the department to answer re the minister's diary. The question should be directed to the minister.'

Senator BIRMINGHAM: Right. Let's go back to the MO and ask them if the minister is willing to appear before the committee.

CHAIR: MO, come on down!

(From about 02:42:30)

Apparently the Miniscule is MIA (on leave) and therefore unavailable to provide evidence either directly or indirectly to the Senate Inquiry:

Minister Catherine King blocks release of Qatar documents to the Senate


September 17, 2023 - 9:22AM

Yet apparently 5 days into Miniscule DK's 2 weeks of leave she was able to take time out from her sabbatical to produce this promo vid for World Maritime Day - via Linkedin:

Australian Maritime Safety Authority
23,369 followers
• 2d •

Today we commemorate World Maritime Day under the theme, 'MARPOL at 50 – our commitment goes on'. It signifies 50 years of setting standards for maritime pollution prevention, and the important role of MARPOL in protecting our oceans.

The Hon. Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, and Local Government, highlights the importance of the MARPOL Convention in protecting the Australian and worldwide marine environment for future generations.

Australia has worked tirelessly for decades in the International Maritime Organization to improve environmental standards through MARPOL.

We actively support the IMO’s Action Plan to combat marine plastic litter from ships and contribute to developing measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in international shipping.

Together with other nations, Australia is resolutely committed to combating climate change and protecting our oceans by promoting affordable clean energy solutions and sustainable innovation.

(YouTube version produced 22/09/23)

Hmm...interesting priorities from the Miniscule?? Happy to promote an obscure, zero fanfare World Maritime Day for AMSA but it's an 'Up Yours' to accountability from the Federal Parliament (taxpayers)?? Perhaps DK's holiday is from matters aeronautical only?? -    

MTF...P2