The government will review all taxpayer-funded flights made by the country’s politicians and public servants following concerns that default bookings with Qantas have reduced competition in the skies.
Politicians and public servants have long been banned from collecting frequent flyer points, but they do accrue status credits which provide access to airline lounges and flight upgrades. Qantas’ frequent flyer program is one of the biggest in the world with more than half the country’s population holding memberships.
Transport Minister Catherine King committed to a review of government bookings by the end of the year by the finance department as part of the aviation white paper released on Monday.
More than 80 per cent of federal politicians, judges and government departments travelled with Qantas last year despite its average ticket price being more than $280 higher, according to travel booking data provided to the government.
Virgin has privately lobbied successive governments for years to stop preferencing Qantas. Although Qantas is not always the cheapest fare on any given route, it is often the most regular. It has also beaten Virgin’s on-time performance for the bulk of this year. This means public servants and politicians often argue they have not violated domestic travel policy guidelines which put as much emphasis on practicality as it does on affordability.
Submissions to the government’s aviation review indicate some government employees have not been booking the lowest practical fare. The government uses travel booking agency Corporate Travel Management for all employee bookings.
Prime Minister and former transport minister Anthony Albanese has been criticised for being too close to Australia’s biggest airline, Qantas. Credit: Rhett Wyman
The relationship between Qantas and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was put under a microscope last year following King’s decision to reject Qantas rival Qatar Airways’ application to double its flights to Australia. Albanese’s request to admit his adult son Nathan into the chairman’s lounge, usually reserved for high-profile figures.
King said it was important to emphasise value for taxpayers when booking parliamentary flights.
“We should try to make sure [public sector travel] is spread a little further across airlines so we can make sure the benefits of taxpayer-funded flights are spread across all parties. We also need to focus on value when we’re spending taxpayer money,” she said.
Shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie said the government could easily resolve the issue without a review.
“Ensuring the travel booking company preferences all airlines is an easy change but Qantas is very muscular in its lobbying so yet again instead of action we get a watered-down review,” McKenzie said.
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