By Millie Muroi
Education Minister Jason Clare has admitted he made a call to Qantas to ask for a flight upgrade after undergoing surgery on his leg, but says he cannot recall whether he spoke to a government relations representative at the airline.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, Clare said he took a personal trip from Sydney to Singapore in 2019, and received an upgrade on the flight, which he had previously declared.
Education Minister Jason Clare said he “probably” spoke to a government relations representative for a flight upgrade in 2019.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“That was a situation where I had just got out of hospital,” he said. “I had surgery on my leg, and yes, I asked for an upgrade, and I was assisted by Qantas. You might remember that I had a melanoma on my leg. I had to get it cut out, my family were overseas, and I caught up with them as soon as I was allowed.”
The admission comes after a week in which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has battled daily questions about his 22 flight upgrades over the years on Qantas and his relationship with former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce.
Clare said he couldn’t remember all the details of his 2019 flight, but that he “probably” spoke to a government relations person at Qantas to arrange the upgrade for his solo trip.
“Yeah, probably,” he replied when pressed if he had spoken to a government relations representative. “Look, I don’t want to mislead you, but you know, I definitely asked for that just to help me after the surgery. I remember picking up the phone and asking for a bit of assistance there.”
Albanese has denied having any point of contact at Qantas and the airline has not responded to a request for comment.
Clare defended the time taken by Albanese to shut down rumours claiming he had contacted Alan Joyce for upgrades, saying the prime minister had gone out of his way to do his due diligence and correctly answer the questions put to him.
“You just asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to,” Clare said. “You’ve got the choice there that you make it up, or you check, and that’s what Anthony has done.
“It’s a bit of a difference to what Peter Dutton did this week, where, you know, when he was asked whether he’d asked Gina Rinehart to use the private plane, he said no. And then a couple of days later, had to say that, in fact, he had.”
Dutton this week admitted his office had asked mining magnate Gina Rinehart for use of her private jet to assist him to attend a Bali bombing memorial service in Sydney.
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