A man who, by all accounts, politely raised his political discomfort and removed himself from a Qantas flight after discovering an asylum seeker was also on board to be transported for deportation has subsequently discovered that the airline has placed him on a “no fly” list, subjecting him to security scrutiny in the process.
The incident occurred when 51 year-old passenger Paul Leary arrived at Melbourne Airport for his flight to Darwin. Whilst at the airport he encountered asylum seeker advocates who were handing out information about a Sri Lankan man – an asylum seeker – who was also booked on the flight.
That passenger, a 25 year-old Tamil man identified as Puvaneethan, had apparently been found to be not a refugee by the Refugee Review Tribunal – who conduct “merit reviews” of visa decisions made by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection – and was subsequently being transported to Darwin ahead of a looming deportation from the country.
According to reports, a female protester had purchased a seat on the flight and voiced her objections by refusing to sit down during take-off preparations.
And that’s when things started getting a little shoddy. Mr Leary stated that he and his business partner made the conscious choice to remove themselves from the flight, as they were not comfortable with the man’s treatment.
According to Mr Leary, “This occurred in the most polite way that you could – by standing up, pressing the call button and getting a Qantas steward to come over, who said ‘what’s the matter?’ I stood up and just queried what was going on, the steward said ‘well what would you like to do sir?’ and I said ‘I’m not comfortable either, I’ll get up and I’ll leave as well.“
Mr Leary and his colleague voluntarily left the flight – they were not officially directed to do so – and spoke to Australian Federal Police officers very briefly in the departure lounge once back inside the airport. No one from Qantas spoke to them.
After arriving in Darwin four days later on a different airline, the pair went to the airport for their planned trip back to Melbourne on the return Qantas plane. But upon their arrival at check-in they were told in no uncertain terms they could not board their flight, having being placed on Qantas’ no fly list.
Mr Leary subsequently received a letter from Qantas informing him of the ban, which stated in part “Your actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
“Qantas have provided no details on their review process or how you can have a say. There is a complete lack of natural justice and I find myself in a kafkaesque type scenario in which a decision will be reached and I will never be spoken to.“
Meanwhile a Qantas spokesperson released a statement, claiming “A number of passengers were identified as being involved in the on-board incident, causing the flight to be delayed by almost an hour. A no-fly notification has been issued by Qantas to those passengers while the incident is investigated by the AFP. As the incident is under investigation, it is not appropriate to comment further.“
Mr Leary has lodged a complaint with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal‘s human rights division, claiming that the ban discriminates against him on the grounds of his political beliefs.
As of yet, not date has been set for a hearing.
Photo: Saeed Kahn via Getty Images.
via SMH.
