Thing that gets my attention is that the police took no action in this case, so the other side must have been pretty weak. I was at Canberra airport during a 'scene' at the Qantas desk over a year ago and close enough the hear the AFP guy tell a Qantas manager it was a service issue on that occasion and nothing to do with the police.
On that occasion there was a heated disagreement between several passengers and several people at the counter near the baggage check but I never heard what it was really all about.