THIS WEEK ON 60 MINUTES
THE DEAFENING SILENCE
Exactly 12 months ago, Sarah Abo interviewed one of the bravest women she’d ever met for one of the most shocking stories she’d ever reported. Jane was among 13 Australian women hauled off flights by armed guards at Qatar’s Doha International Airport while transiting through the wealthy Persian Gulf state.
The women were taken to waiting ambulances where, without consent, airport authorities physically violated them. The reason? A newborn baby had been found abandoned in an airport toilet and Qatari police, convinced a crime had occurred, were determined to find the mother by having all women of child-bearing age invasively examined. What they were subjected to was disgraceful conduct that at the time was condemned around the world, including by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
Now a year on, Sarah Abo reports an appalling development in this scandal. Despite assurances there would be proper investigations, it appears as if both the Qatari and Australian governments have completely forgotten about the incident. Jane and the other Australian victims have received no explanations and no apologies. In fact, the silence is so deafening it’s as if the women didn’t exist and their suffering never happened.
Reporter: Sarah Abo
Producer: Tracey Hannaford
POKING THE PANDA
The message coming out of China is getting louder by the day. It doesn’t like other countries, especially Australia, ganging up and meddling in its affairs. As all Australians know, Beijing has been doing its best to punish us economically, but now not even that seems to be enough for the increasingly belligerent communist regime. In the past few days President Xi Jinping has been busily ratcheting up the rhetoric by warning of the perils of a new cold war.
A loose translation of his fury is if we don’t stop poking the panda, the consequences will be severe. Tom Steinfort reports that Xi’s threats need to be taken seriously because he controls the largest military force in the world, and as one of the president’s supporters tells him, the cost of conflict with China could be Armageddon.
Reporter: Tom Steinfort
Producer: Garry McNab
