Anthony Albanese adamant he’s declared all Qantas freebies
Anthony Albanese claims he has been fully transparent about receiving free flight upgrades courtesy of Qantas, as a new book lifts the lid on the freebies the Prime Minister accepted from the airline.
Anthony Albanese claims he has been fully transparent about receiving free flight upgrades courtesy of Qantas, sparking a war of words with the author behind revelations about the Prime Minister’s close relationship with former airline boss Alan Joyce.
Mr Albanese on Sunday strongly denied any wrongdoing over the upgrades and said he had put every one of them on the public record.
But former columnist and author Joe Aston – whose book on Qantas under Mr Joyce revealed Mr Albanese’s freebies – accused him of being misleading and ‘gold-plating” his holidays.
The flight upgrades to destinations including London, Hawaii and Dubai date back from 2009 up until 2019, and include the period the Labor leader held the Infrastructure and Transport portfolio from 2010 to 2013.
On Sunday, when asked if he would be making further declarations to the parliamentary register of interests, the Prime Minister said that “every single thing has been declared”.
“Every single thing has been declared, every single thing has been declared, which is why it has been reported on, and it is appropriate that those declarations occur,” he said, speaking from the Norton Street Italian Festa in Leichhardt.
“From time to time members of parliament receive upgrades; what’s important is that they are declared. All of mine have been declared. I note that a range of them go back a long period of time.”
It was put to him that he himself had sought out some of the upgrades, to which Mr Albanese said that he had declared everything which he again reiterated was “appropriate”.
“(Alan Joyce) was the CEO of the national airline, and as the CEO of the national airline I have the same relationship with him than I have with (former Virgin Australia CEO) John Borghetti,” he said.
Mr Albanese said his son received access to Qantas’s prestigious Chairman’s Lounge when his relationship with his wife ended. “I put out a media release when my marriage ended, you can’t be more transparent than that,” he said. “My ‘plus one’ became my son.”
The declaration came just a day before Aston’s new book, titled The Chairman’s Lounge hit the shelves on Monday.
The book promises “the inside story of how Qantas sold us out” and details freebies it says the Prime Minister accepted and requested.
Aston on Sunday hit back at Mr Albanese’s comments, saying the upgrades were still not acceptable and accusing Mr Albanese of being misleading over his son’s Chairman’s Lounge status.
“Albanese was gold-plating his private holidays by soliciting freebies worth tens of thousands of dollars from Alan Joyce while Albanese was the transport minister (and then shadow transport minister) and responsible for regulating Australia’s airline sector. The fact that he disclosed many upgrades does not make it acceptable behaviour,” the author told The Australian.
“As for the Chairman’s Lounge membership of his son, the Prime Minister’s explanation is misleading at best. While his marriage ended in January 2019, Albanese only asked for (and received) a Chairman’s Lounge membership for his son much later. Also, Albanese’s fiancee is his plus one to the Chairman’s Lounge, not his son.”
Nationals Leader David Littleproud ordered Mr Albanese to “come out” and “disclose exactly what happened”.
“I think the Prime Minister needs to give an explanation. And did he declare to have direct contact with Alan Joyce and when his government made a very pivotal decision around airline competition in this country by blocking Qatar, bringing more flights, driving up more competition in this country,” Mr Littleproud told Nine News.
“I think the Prime Minister simply has to put it to bed one way or another.”
According to the book, it was a business class upgrade for a Sydney to Los Angeles return flight in July 2009 that marked the first perk accepted by Mr Albanese from Qantas, followed by another upgrade for him and his son Nathan on Sydney to Rome return flights from Emirates.
While transport minister, he also enjoyed an upgraded flight to Hawaii from Qantas in December 2012 and in March 2013 he travelled alongside Mr Joyce on the airline’s inaugural flight to Dubai.
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