Anthony Albanese ‘no sook’ over Qantas upgrades fiasco, Mark Butler declares

Health Minister Mark Butler has offered a strident defence of Anthony Albanese, speaking out against an unnamed ministerial colleague that accused the PM of having a ‘massive sook-up’ over media coverage of his Qantas flights upgrade controversy.

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Health Minister Mark Butler has said the “last thing” he’d call Anthony Albanese is a “sook”, speaking out against an unnamed ministerial colleague that accused the Prime Minister of having a “massive sook-up” over media coverage of his Qantas flights upgrade controversy.

The leak, which was published by the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, followed a meeting of the Labor ministry in Melbourne on Wednesday, where Mr Albanese sought to reassure his colleagues that he was a victim of unfair media reporting over the issue.

But speaking on Friday morning, Mr Butler – a close factional ally of Mr Albanese – rejected that account of the meeting, while also defending his leader’s actions in the wake of allegations he personally solicited flight upgrades from the airline’s former boss Alan Joyce.

“As someone who’s known Anthony for a very long time and worked closely with him, the last thing I’d call him is a sook,” Mr Butler told ABC radio, stressing the need for cabinet confidentiality.

“You can’t be sook and get to the prime ministership of the country, or, frankly, to the position of leader or the opposition. These are tough jobs, and they require someone with a real sense of purpose and real resilience and strength, and that’s the Anthony Albanese I know.”

Questions over whether any current or former staff members in Mr Albanese’s office solicited upgrades continue to cloud the Labor leader. The Australian sought comment from Mr Albanese on this matter on Thursday but received no on-record response.

Government sources were adamant that all bookings had been made in the normal manner across Qantas’ system. Any upgrades were matter for the airline and were appropriately declared, they said.

Mr Butler said Mr Albanese had been “awfully definitive”, noting that the Prime Minister had scoured his previous itineraries to offer his assurances to the Australian public.

“He’s been in parliament for 30 years, he had his office assiduously go through his records so that he could be completely confident to the Australian people in saying what he said, did not make any contact with Alan Joyce, which was the allegation for upgrades.”

Mr Butler also expressed his concern that a leak had occurred from the ministry, but acknowledged that it was not without precedent in politics.

“Of course it worries me when people leak, but that’s been a part of politics on both sides of the political divide for as long as I’ve been involved in it. Every now and then someone shows a bit of ill discipline, but I’m not, I’m not going to pay much attention to it,” he said.

Asked what his message was to those colleagues who had leaked to the media, Mr Butler demanded they “knuckle down”.

“I’m not going to overstate one potential leak out of one meeting. It’s ill disciplined. It makes me cross ,” Mr Butler said. “But I do restate the importance now, more than most periods of time, given how tough it is here in Australia and across the world, how tough it is for households, they need a government focused on doing everything we can to help them.

“That’s what this government is doing.”

Taking aim at the Coalition, Mr Butler criticised Peter Dutton after the Opposition Leader confirmed his office had requested and received a flight on a private jet owned by Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart.

“Peter Dutton has a taste for private planes, whether it’s Gina Reinhardt’s plane or having spent almost quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer funds in six months last year taking private charters instead of commercial flights,” he added.