Nothing to Qantas flights saga, Anthony Albanese tells ministers

Anthony Albanese has sought to reassure his ministers the Qantas flights upgrade controversy will blow over, while unable to say if anyone in his office requested an upgrade on his behalf, with Labor MPs frustrated the government’s message is being stifled.

Anthony Albanese and former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce in 2023.

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Anthony Albanese has sought to reassure his ministers the Qantas flights upgrade controversy will blow over, while unable to say if anyone in his office requested an upgrade on his behalf, with Labor MPs frustrated the government’s message is being stifled just months out from an election.

The Prime Minister told a meeting of his full ministry on Wednesday he had done nothing wrong and was the victim of unfair media reporting.

As Qantas and its chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, held their silence over the affair and hosted a high-end dinner in Sydney on Thursday night, Labor has attempted to ratchet up pressure on the Coalition over its MPs’ flight upgrades and travel.

Peter Dutton confirmed his office contacted mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s office to fly him on a private jet between Rockhampton, Sydney and Mackay to attend a Bali bombing memorial service after he declared on Tuesday he had never personally called Ms Rinehart to fly him around the country.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie, who alongside the Opposition Leader has led the attack against Mr Albanese this week, was also forced to audit her own flight upgrades after saying on Monday she had never received one.

At the start of a full ministry meeting on Wednesday, Mr Albanese denied having ever asked for a flight upgrade, and told colleagues he had done a thorough audit and that Bill Shorten had also been on the receiving end of unfair treatment by the media when he was Labor leader.

He was said to have launched a scathing attack on Senator McKenzie and Mr Dutton, who Mr Albanese said had been hypocritical in their assault against him.

One minister at the meeting told The Australian the monologue was even worse than his widely panned press conference a day earlier, accusing the Prime Minister of rambling without having a clear objective of what his ministers should take away from the comments.

But another minister played down the significance of his speech, saying it was in line with his tradition of giving a monologue on key issues of the week.

While there were ministers sympathetic to the Mr Albanese’s plight, others were critical of how he has handled the issue since it was published in newspapers over the weekend.

One minister said the meeting was dominated by discussions of the economy and inflation, and that the Prime Minister had dealt with the Qantas issue appropriately.

Another minister was worried Mr Albanese was not listening to advice.

Some Labor MPs believed the fallout from the publication of former Nine columnist Joe Aston’s book, The Chairman’s Lounge, could have been handled better but didn’t think it would cause long-term damage for the Prime Minister.

They didn’t think Mr Albanese had done anything wrong and, like the Prime Minister, in part blamed the media for the saga, but were concerned the government was failing to get its message out ahead of the federal election and following the purchase of his $4.3m beachside home.

Other Labor MPs were growing increasingly worried about Mr Albanese’s performance and his ability to deal with difficult issues.

Aston’s book alleged Mr Albanese accepted free flight upgrades worth tens of thousands of dollars while he was either transport minister or shadow transport minister.

The book cites Qantas insiders who said Mr Albanese would liaise with Mr Joyce directly about his personal travel.

After a carefully worded statement issued on Wednesday night denying he had ever called Mr Joyce to seek an upgrade, Mr Albanese provided more detail to 2GB’s Ben Fordham, saying he had also not texted or emailed the former airline chief executive about flight upgrades.

He also said he had not shared flights or travel plans with Mr Joyce without specifically asking for an upgrade, nor sought an upgrade from someone else at Qantas with whom he had shared his travel plans.

The Australian sought to clarify with Mr Albanese if anyone in his office had contacted a Qantas employee seeking an upgrade but there was no on-record response.

Government sources said all bookings had been made in the normal way across Qantas’s system. Upgrades, when offered, were a matter for the airline. When given to Mr Albanese, they had been properly declared.

As Coalition members came under greater scrutiny on Thursday over their upgrades, Senator McKenzie wrote to Qantas, Virgin and administrators for Rex requesting a full history of her travel records, conceding she may have failed to disclose some upgrades.

“If there are any inconsistencies with my previous declarations, I will make those changes,” Senator McKenzie said.

Mr Dutton stood by Senator McKenzie on Thursday, saying she had been “open and honest and forthright”, but Coalition MPs were critical of their colleague for her lapse in judgment in leading the attacks on Mr Albanese without being certain her own disclosure of upgrades was complete.

Nationals leader David Littleproud also said Senator McKenzie had “acted appropriately and transparently”, and the Opposition Leader said he wouldn’t sack her from his frontbench.

“No, I won’t. She’s gone through a process, she’s issued a statement this morning, which, as I say, deals with it in a transparent and honest way. The complete opposite of the approach that Mr Albanese as Prime Minister has taken,” Mr Dutton said.

“Did he pick up the phone as transport minister of this country and ask the CEO of Qantas for an upgrade of his flights? Now, it took five days to get some sort of a statement out of the Prime Minister. Nothing he said in the five-day period was coherent and then issuing the clarifying statement, we find out this morning that the Prime Minister’s clarified the clarifying statement, but there’s still great ambiguity about what he’s saying.”

When asked if Senator McKenzie should resign from the shadow ministry over reports she had failed to declare flight upgrades, many of her Liberal and Nationals colleagues told The Australian they expected she would continue in the role.

One MP chided Senator McKenzie for being so vocal in her criticism of Mr Albanese, remarking that people in glass houses “shouldn’t throw stones”.

Another MP pointed out Senator McKenzie was doing her due diligence by conducting her own review of her flight history and it could turn up no omissions.

There was no suggestion Senator McKenzie was in immediate danger, a third Coalition MP said, unless damaging new allegations came to light.

Liberal MP Jenny Ware disclosed on Wednesday she had received upgrades from economy to business class on three flights dating back to 2022, including on a Qantas flight from Bali to Sydney for personal travel.

Updating her register of members’ interests to reflect the upgrades on a Qantas Canberra-Sydney flight in December 2022 and a Virgin Brisbane-Sydney flight in March, Ms Ware said she had not requested the upgrades and they had been offered at the gate or on the plane.

Ms Ware accused Greens leader Adam Bandt of failing to properly disclose his own upgrades in detail.

“Some MPs, such as Adam Bandt, declare ‘occasional flight upgrades’,” she said.

“I decided, in all of the circumstances over the past week, that it was prudent to audit my travel and make a disclosure of each flight in the interests of full transparency.”