Premier Peter Malinauskas and nearly entire Cabinet declare membership of Qantas invitation-only Chairman’s Lounge – despite criticism

Premier Peter Malinauskas and nearly his entire Cabinet have declared membership of Qantas’ invitation-only Chairman’s Lounge – despite his recent criticism of the airline.

Premier Peter Malinauskas and nearly his entire Cabinet have declared membership of Qantas’ ritzy invitation-only Chairman’s Lounge – despite his recent criticism of the airline.

A total 16 South Australian state MPs are members, including non-government MPs Opposition Leader David Speirs, former premier Steven Marshall and Speaker Dan Cregan.

As part of their free membership, they are attended to by waiters in an exclusive lounge and enjoy generous perks such as free booze, steak dinners and flight upgrades that can be worth thousands of dollars.

The declarations – recorded in the register of interests tabled in parliament earlier this month – come amid scrutiny of the influence Qantas has over the nation’s decision-makers.

Premier Peter Malinauskas and nearly the entire Cabinet have declared membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge. Picture: Brett Hartwig

The federal government has dismissed accusations it protected the embattled airline from further competition by rejecting a proposal by Qatar Airways to add extra Australian routes.

The High Court recently found Qantas illegally sacked nearly 1700 workers during the pandemic, while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is alleging in the Federal Court that Qantas sold tickets for thousands of flights that had already been cancelled.

Mr Malinauskas this month said it was a “disappointing state of play” that Qantas has not flown internationally from SA since it scrapped a direct Adelaide to Singapore route in 2013.

The register of interests showed that Mr Malinauskas was gifted perfume and cognac valued at $1080 by the chief executive of Qatar Airways, but surrendered both items to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

A government spokesman said “the Premier will always stick up for the interests of South Australians”.

“He could not have been clearer in his public advocacy for Qantas to uphold its reputation as the national carrier by returning international flights to Adelaide,” he said.

“Mr Malinauskas has also praised Qatar for continuing to stick by South Australians by providing international flights, particularly during the pandemic.”

The spokesman said, under official guidelines in place under successive governments, airline lounge memberships are not classified as gifts provided they are part of a minister’s role and are not given in exchange for favour.

“All MPs should publicly disclose any membership as the Premier has to the parliament,” he said.

The only ministers who, on their declarations, had no reference to the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge were Nick Champion, Clare Scriven and Geoff Brock.

But the government later clarified that Mr Champion was a member and “out of an abundance of caution will update the register accordingly”.

An opposition spokeswoman said: “There’s no doubt Qantas seriously needs to lift its game if it’s to become the well regarded airline it once used to be”.

“We believe bringing international flights back to Adelaide would help repair some of the damage to its reputation with South Australian customers,” she said.

“The Opposition Leader is not considering cancelling his membership at this time and is hopeful Qantas will make necessary improvements to restore its former reputation as a premier airline.”