Transport minister says Qatar decision in the ‘national interest’

Question time has now ended, but not before Transport Minister Catherine King was asked a question by her own side about the Qatar decision.

“It might be useful to remind the House that requests for additional capacity are made routinely to governments around the world ... and these requests are not always granted, including by those opposite,” she said.

She said she determined it wasn’t in the national interest for Qatar to operate 28 additional flights per week, after having 7 more flights added to its Australian footprint last year.

“I made the decision not in any company’s commercial interest, but in the national interest,” she said.