PM finally comes clean on Qantas perk drama

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has broken his silence on the Qantas upgrade drama that has ignited a political firestorm.

Anthony Albanese has broken his silence on the Qantas upgrade mess revealing an audit of his travel has confirmed he never directly called Qantas CEO Alan Joyce about upgrades for personal travel.

But crucially, the Prime Minister is not denying - as revealed by news.com.au - that he or his staff may have called Qantas’ government relations contacts or the Chairman’s Lounge “hotline” to book the flights with upgrades then offered by Qantas.

Instead, the Prime Minister is unequivocally denying for the first time that he ever personally liaised with Mr Joyce directly on the subject of upgrades for family holidays.

“The Prime Minister did not ever call Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade,’’ a spokesperson told news.com.au.

“All travel has been appropriately declared and is a matter of public record.”

The new account directly contradicts an account in a new book The Chairman’s Lounge by Joe Aston, that asserts “Albanese would liaise with Joyce directly about his personal travel.”

Government sources said it had taken two days to issue the firm denial to allow staff to go back and check the records as far back as 20 years ago.

Albo’s Qantas perk secrets revealed

When is a secret hotline to Qantas’ VIP Chairman’s Lounge and its government relations team where MPs can score flight upgrades totally different to a direct hotline to the former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce even though you also have his mobile phone number?

That’s the burning question consuming the Prime Minister and his office this week.

And if you believe them, the answer is when the Prime Minister is calling the Chairman’s Lounge to book personal holidays to Honolulu, instead of the CEO.

In an explanation that’s unlikely to resolve the political blow up, insiders say the PM is so stung by claims that he put the hard word on Alan Joyce for freebies that he’s considering providing more information over how the flight upgrades occurred.

Insiders have lifted the lid on how the Chairman’s Lounge hotline works.

That is likely to include a denial that he personally called the CEO over private holidays, but it’s tricky territory because he or his staff may have called the Chairman’s Lounge “hotline” instead.

Confused? Buckle up.

Albo and the “unholy cabin”

The splitting of hairs over who asked who for an upgrade follows the publication of author Joe Aston’s new book The Chairman’s Lounge.

On page 230 of the book, Aston writes: “According to Qantas insiders, Albanese would liaise directly with Alan Joyce about his personal travel”.

He claims the PM scored 22 flight upgrades including for personal holidays to Europe and Hawaii.

Jodie Haydon, Alan Joyce and Anthony Albanese at the Qantas 100th Gala Dinner at hangar 96 at Sydney's International Airport. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

“It would be a safe presumption that [Albanese] paid for an economy ticket in the full knowledge he would never have to set foot in that unholy cabin,’’ Aston writes.

But the Prime Minister is pushing back over the suggestion he personally lobbied Mr Joyce, insisting as he told reporters on Tuesday, he only recalls direct conversations with Mr Joyce over two flights that were declared.

PM’s trainwreck press conference

During a trainwreck press conference, Mr Albanese tried to get the story out on Tuesday but ended up leaving some voters even more confused.

“I have said very clearly that I recall direct discussions with Alan Joyce over the flights – the Emirates flight to Dubai and, of course, the first flight to Perth,” he said.

PM Anthony Albanese during a trainwreck press conference in Newcastle on Tuesday.

“Of the 22 flights, 10 of them were during the leadership ballot between myself and Bill Shorten in 2013 over a one month period where both Qantas and Virgin provided upgrades for flights that were paid for by the Australian Labor Party to make sure that there wasn’t any cost to taxpayers for what was internal business.

“Every other flight I paid for. Every other flight. These were two non-commercial flights that were declared in which transport ministers and shadow ministers travelled as well. It’s as simple as that.”

How the Chairman’s Lounge hotline works

Former Labor staffers have told news.com.au that it was not uncommon to secure flight upgrades from Qantas for MPs by calling someone in Qantas’ “government relations” division.

“Generally how it works is you book economy and then you call up Alan Joyce or (Qantas) government relations and they then process what is a space available upgrade,’’ a former staffer said.

Mr Albanese denied that he directly lobbied Alan Joyce for free flights. Picture: Brendan Radke

Other Labor staffers suggested there was a designated line for Chairman’s Lounge members where Qantas would bend over backwards to deliver magical upgrade outcomes.

In Aston’s book he also refers to the “space available” upgrades.

“While other Qantas executives could authorise ‘space available’ upgrades in flight bookings, meaning an upgrade would occur only if there was an empty business or first class seat after check-in had closed, only Joyce could issue ‘confirmed’ or guaranteed upgrades, the kind that Albanese was treated to,’’ he writes.

“None of this made Albanese Robinson Crusoe in the parliament – far from it – but neither did that make it right.

“In all of these cases, Albanese was either transport minister or shadow transport minister, so he was accepting gifts cumulatively worth tens of thousands of dollars from one of the largest and most important stakeholders in his area of policy responsibility, creating at the very least a perceived conflict of interest regarding the independence of his decision-making. Yet nobody batted an eyelid.

“That was the most disturbing part – that it was utterly common practice in Australian politics.”

Asked directly on Tuesday whether or not he “ever called Alan Joyce directly for these upgrades?” Mr Albanese skirted around the question.

“Well you can’t just – there’s no accusation being made with any specifics at all about any of this. None. None,’’ he said.

“I’m asking a specific question,’’ the reporter replied.

Peter Dutton on the warpath

Peter Dutton has ratcheted up the pressure over the Prime Minister’s Qantas upgrade drama urging him to refer himself to the national anti-corruption watchdog.

The Liberal leader urged Anthony Albanese to “get his story straight” after he repeatedly refused to go into detail over whether he had personally requested flight upgrades for private holidays.

“I think the Prime Minister should take the initiative to refer this matter to the integrity commission because I think there are many questions about Mr Albanese’s credibility and his integrity in relation to the Qatar (Airways) decision,’’ Mr Dutton said.

“Mr Albanese needs to be honest. He can blame other people but this is a problem of his own making.

Anthony Albanese and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

“He was transport minister and he picked the phone up to the CEO of Qantas to get upgrades, some of which it seems were declared and others not.

“He’s not coherent. His story keeps changing. Australians are now starting to question the integrity and the truthfulness of their Prime Minister.”

This all came after Mr Albanese suffered a spectacular memory failure telling reporters he hadn’t declared “any flights with billionaires” like Mr Dutton, despite hitching a ride with billionaire Lindsay Fox in his private helicopter.

PM’s memory fail

Speaking in Newcastle, Mr Albanese threw shade at Mr Dutton for accepting flights with mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

“I’ve been completely transparent about this,” he said.

“Just as Peter Dutton declared his flights, or some of his flights, there is a difference between both of us.

“My flights were commercial with Qantas or Virgin or Emirates, they were all declared in the appropriate way. I didn’t have to declare any flights on private jets owned by billionaires like Gina Rinehart, because I haven’t engaged in it, as simple as that.”

But Mr Albanese appears to have forgotten a helicopter trip he took in 2023 with Victorian premier Dan Andrews.

The meeting between two of Australia’s most powerful politicians and one of the country’s wealthiest families was quietly held on Saturday afternoon after Albanese finished his official business in Victoria.

“Anthony Albanese has refused to disclose what he discussed, we don’t know what special requests were made of the prime minister,” deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley, said at the time.

“We do know he willingly accepted a private helicopter flight to a billionaire’s mansion … the Prime Minister needs to be upfront with the Australian people and explain what was discussed over what appears to be several hours.”

When asked about the helicopter trip and subsequent barbecue, Mr Albanese said: “I have private meetings all the time. And I have private meetings which are private meetings”.