Flying high above the hoi polloi

Having spent a week avoiding the media in person to answer questions about his use of Qantas flight upgrades, Anthony Albanese no doubt is confident that enough mud has been thrown around to drag his opponents into what is sure to be a fiery and hostile parliamentary sitting week next week. The message the Prime Minister sent to nervous colleagues at a meeting of his full ministry was that the controversy would blow over. Travel rorts are nothing new in politics, he reasons. If the issue persists, Labor will work to ensure that an equal focus remains on Peter Dutton, who confirmed that his office had contacted mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s office to organise the use of her personal jet to attend a Bali bombing memorial service.

On the evidence, Mr Albanese has a tougher task to satisfy. He has declared accepting upgrades from Qantas for personal overseas travel when he was the minister responsible for overseeing Qantas in the Rudd government. The issue is about conflict of interest, not who spoke to who and when. There already is sufficient doubt about how the Albanese upgrades materialised to raise suspicions. Mr Albanese was unconvincing in his initial personal explanations, retreating later to short messages sent by text to radio presenters in a bid to clear the air. Voters are entitled to think that this is no way to run a country. It exposes a culture of insiders who enjoy perks and benefits along undefined lines under a system that is unregulated and opaque.

What has become clear this week is that the largesse of airlines is given not only to politicians but extends even to those who have been selected to decide what is corrupt conduct and what is not.

Qantas has stayed out of the spotlight but letters to a former Chairman’s Club member makes it clear that its focus is on those who have a “senior position in the government, corporate and diplomatic community”. There are clear ethical considerations that nobody appears to have been willing to consider, let alone address. The real issue is conflict of interest, an area in which perceptions can be just as damaging as fact. Mr Albanese is at least guilty of poor judgment.

Whatever happens from here, the unfortunate outcome has been a further erosion of public trust in the political system. It is difficult to imagine a bigger disconnect at a time of rising business failures than our top public officials getting bumped up to business class from economy to avoid the hoi polloi.