Andrew Bolt: Labor’s no longer about fighting for the poor, rather it’s fighting for poor me-me-me

Education Minister Jason Clare has schooled us all on demanding freebies while playing the victim, admitting that he too asked Qantas for a free upgrade on a holiday flight because he'd – get your violins out – had a melanoma cut out of his leg.

Jason Clare has admitted he requested free business class upgrades from Qantas. Picture: Martin Ollman

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has just schooled us on how to demand freebies while still playing the victim.

What an insight into the entitlement culture of this – ha! – socialist Left government of Upgrade Albanese.

Clare admitted on Sunday he’d, oops, asked Qantas government relations staff for an upgrade for a holiday flight to Singapore in 2019.

Jason Clare admitted that he’d asked Qantas for a free upgrade. Picture: Martin Ollman

Amazing. The man goes on holidays but wants other people to pay for it?

Knowing how bad this sounded with his prime minister accused of the very same thing, Clare pulled out his violin.

Clare said he’d just had surgery to cut a melanoma out of his leg so “yep, I asked for an upgrade”.

“I remember picking up the phone and asking for a bit of assistance there.”

Here’s where your heart is supposed to melt. Give that poor, lame politician an upgrade!

But wait. If Clare really thought he needed to fly in business class with his wonky leg, why didn’t he pay for the upgrade himself?

Why ask Qantas to pay for it?

This kind of thing seems to run in Clare’s family.

In his first speech to parliament, he complained that his great-great-great-great-grandfather also had to travel when he had problems with his leg.

That problem was a leg iron. Thomas Clare was a thief, you see, being transported to Australia, but Jason Clare reassured parliament: “We have come a long way since then.”

Yes! Now that thief’s great-great-great-great-grandson can get Qantas to provide the Clare leg with comfort he has no intention of paying for himself.

Maybe the Clare family hasn’t come such a long way after all.

In that same speech, Clare vowed a Labor government “will put fairness back into the workplaces”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of personally requesting free upgrades from Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. Picture: Philip Gostelow

Now look at him and his Labor prime minister, oinking ahead of the queue to get business class seats they haven’t paid for.

When I worked for the Labor Party I thought it was about fighting for the poor.

Now the Education Minister shows it’s busy fighting for the poor me-me-me.

For Albanese, Clare’s admission is yet more embarrassment. It took the Prime Minister six days after he was accused of himself asking Qantas for freebies to finally deny doing any such thing in any possible way.

Yet now Clare shows how easily a Labor MP could limp into a business class seat just by calling some guy at Qantas.

This scandal has more legs than Clare’s clan.

Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Labor’s no longer about fighting for the poor, rather it’s fighting for poor me-me-me