Bilateral relations exist between the Commonwealth of Australia and the state of

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

. In 2012, Qatar opened an embassy in Canberra, Australia and an Ambassador to Qatar and the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

was appointed, the first time an Ambassador to Qatar has been appointed. There are 3,000 Australians in Qatar. In 2016, Australia opened an embassy in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

. The Australian ambassador to Qatar is Shane Flanagan.

Investment

Up to 2017, Hassad Food, which is an investment arm of the

Qatar Investment Authority The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ar, جهاز قطر للإستثمار) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In 202 ...

, had invested more than $500 million to buy prime agricultural land in Australia, to own 3,000 square kilometres, with five properties in New South Wales, one in Victoria, one in Queensland, three in South Australia and three in Western Australia.

2020 airport incident

On 2 October 2020, thirteen Australian female passengers aboard a

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netwo ...

flight to Sydney from Hamad International Airport in

were forced to deplane before takeoff, and were subsequently

strip search A strip search is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, but by requiring the person to remove some or al ...

ed and "subjected to an invasive internal examination" against their will. This was alleged prompted by the discovery of a newborn baby in an airport bathroom. This evolved into a diplomatic incident between Australia and Qatar with Australian foreign minister

Marise Payne Marise Ann Payne (born 29 July 1964) is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 and as Minister for Women from 2019 to 2022. She has been a Senator for New South Wales si ...

stating "the treatment of the women concerned was offensive, grossly inappropriate, and beyond circumstances in which the women could give free and informed consent". Following adverse media coverage, on 28 October the Qatari government issued a statement of regret and promised a "comprehensive, transparent investigation".

FIFA 2022

In December 2022, Football Australia reflected on a memorable FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Football Australia CEO, James Johnson, said that he would like to extend his heartfelt congratulations to Argentina, led by one of the greatest players of all time in Lionel Messi, on claiming their third FIFA World Cup crown.

Transport links

As of July 2023

, the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hi ...

airline of

has services to and from Hamad International Airport in Doha to five Australian cities.

Humanitarian Assistance

In October 2023, as the government was working towards bringing back Australians stranded in war-torn Israel back home, as a surprising ally Qatar became the first nation to offer help, Qatar’s flight QR7424 played a crucial role by providing dedicated rescue services to 222 Australians who were trying to escape Israel.

References