A number of comments in the media article above suggest it was the Qatari government, not the airline, that conducted the 'searches'…..not that there is a great deal of difference and I'm sure those subjected to this treatment don't see a huge difference.
However, there
is a difference. If the Aus Govt is going to make a stand about this, then have the balls enough to say that Qatar is being refused extra landing rights because of the human rights violations of the Qatari Government. To me, Qatar Airways itself is entirely blameless. It wasn't the airline taking the passengers off the aircraft or conducting the searches. I doubt they even knew exactly what was going on at the time.
The Aus government did nothing at the time of the alleged assaults. Bit hard to grandstand now.......unless you need a convenient straw to clutch at.