‘No call to Alan Joyce seeking upgrade’: Anthony Albanese’s carefully worded defence

Government ministers fail to say if Anthony Albanese’s alleged soliciting of flight upgrades from Alan Joyce warrant a referral to the NACC, as the Greens leave open the possibility of backing a Coalition Senate inquiry into the matter.

Rosie Lewis and Rhiannon Down

5 min read

3 hours ago.

Updated 3 hours ago

Anthony Albanese and then Qantas CEO Alan Joyce as they attend the Qantas 100th gala dinner in March 2023. Picture: Getty Images

Anthony Albanese has ruled out ever having called Alan Joyce to seek a flight upgrade, in a carefully worded statement issued five days after the Prime Minister was embroiled in controversy over whether he used his relationship with the former Qantas chief executive for personal gain and made decisions in government that benefited the airline.

But Mr Albanese failed to rule out soliciting upgrades for himself or his family through other means, including via staff or to different contacts at Qantas. There was also no clarification on whether he had asked Mr Joyce for upgrades outside of a phone call, such as in a text message or email.

After The Australian put a series of detailed questions to Mr Albanese’s office on Wednesday asking whether he or his office had ever requested a flight upgrade from Mr Joyce or Qantas, his spokeswoman responded: “The Prime Minister did not ever call Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade. All travel has been appropriately declared and is a matter of public record.”

The Australian understands Mr Albanese’s travel has been booked in a range of different ways by various people over his parliamentary career, which spans nearly three decades, and through “normal channels”.

The Australian was told upgrades for Mr Albanese happened in the same way as they had for other MPs, who were routinely offered them, with the decisions made by Qantas.

Sky News reported on Wednesday night that Mr Albanese had a dedicated senior executive at Qantas who handled his flight upgrades. The airline’s then group executive for government and international affairs, Andrew Parker, not only was Mr Albanese’s contact point at Qantas but also was a close acquaintance, Sky News presenter Sharri Markson reported.

Mr Albanese attended Mr Parker’s housewarming and the Qantas executive reportedly had a mock plaque saying it was officially opened by Mr Albanese.

Mr Albanese’s office has been checking the Prime Minister’s flight records, with Wednesday’s statement designed to quell the political storm.

Senior government ministers failed to say earlier on Wednesday if Mr Albanese’s alleged soliciting of flight upgrades from Mr Joyce warranted a referral to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, as the Greens left open the possibility of backing a Coalition push to establish a Senate inquiry into the matter.

With Peter Dutton and Coalition MPs demanding the Prime Minister refer himself to the NACC, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy were asked on Wednesday whether the Prime Minister or someone else should send the flight upgrades for review. None of the three directly responded.

As the Senate considers an inquiry into the Prime Minister’s dealings with Qantas, independent ACT senator David Pocock questioned the Prime Minister’s office’s statement.

“He (Mr Albanese) didn’t call Alan Joyce. Were there text messages, emails?” Senator Pocock said on the ABC.

“We have rules that you can be the transport minister, get an upgrade from a company you regulate, and so long as you declare it, it’s totally fine. Is that up to standard?”

Speaking before the Prime Minister’s Wednesday statement was released, Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese had two outstanding questions to ask, including whether he called Mr Joyce when he was transport minister and asked for a free upgrade.

“The second question is, given the very friendly, longstanding relationship between Mr Joyce and the Prime Minister, what were the circumstances around the Prime Minister’s decision to not allow Qatar Airways into Australia? If Qatar was flying on routes from Perth to Sydney or Perth to Melbourne or Perth to Brisbane at the moment, people in WA, people in the Northern Territory and in other parts of the country, would be paying lower airfares,” the Opposition Leader said.

“But the Prime Minister made the decision, which wasn’t properly explained at the time, which starved Qatar of the opportunity to come into our market, reduced competition, and therefore has held up the prices of airfares for too long. And we don’t know why the Prime Minister went against the advice of the department, or why the Prime Minister went against the advice of Minister (Catherine) King and made the decision to exclude Qatar.”

After Mr Albanese held two press conferences this week that failed to answer key questions, Jim Chalmers said he wasn’t sure if Mr Albanese had phoned Mr Joyce to get a flight upgrade.

Health Minister Mark Butler, a close ally of Mr Albanese, said cabinet was “completely solid” in supporting their leader.

In a trainwreck press conference on Tuesday, Mr Albanese said: “The only discussions that I can recall with Alan Joyce, certainly we discussed, not through calls, we discussed the first flight from Australia to Dubai on an A380. It was about an arrangement between Australia and the UAE that was held in Dubai, returned. Every other flight I paid for.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt called for Mr Albanese to deliver a “full statement about these matters” and said the party room would decide whether to endorse any Coalition bid to set up a Senate inquiry that would order Mr Joyce to give evidence and explain the alleged upgrades, his relationship with the Prime Minister and any conflict of interest.

Mr Conroy said Mr Albanese had made all declarations in accordance with the rules as he attacked Joe Aston – author of The Chairman’s Lounge which revealed the Prime Minister’s alleged soliciting of flight upgrades from Mr Joyce – when asked if the matter should go to the NACC.

“These are claims made by a former Liberal staffer who as recently as three months ago was the headline act at federal Liberal fundraisers," Mr Conroy told the National Press Club in Canberra.

“I know journalists will say that’s on page one of the book. The book isn’t what people are reading. They’re reading people’s newspapers and seeing television.

“Until we reminded people of that, very little of the reporting acknowledged that the person in question was a Liberal Party identity.”

Mr Conroy and Ms Rishworth said Mr Dutton needed to explain what he was “promised” in return for private flights from billionaire Gina Rinehart. When Ms Rishworth was asked a second time if the Qantas upgrades should be looked at by the NACC, she told ABC radio: “The Prime Minister, as with other members of parliament, are required to be transparent through their declarations on their register of interest. And we’ve seen over the last couple of days many, many politicians from all sides having flight upgrades.”

Mr Shorten also attempted to turn the blowtorch on the Opposition Leader after being asked for his reaction to Mr Dutton’s push for a NACC referral. “He’s (Mr Dutton’s) not shy about catching a plane with billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart,” the former Labor leader said. “I don’t think he’s proposing to refer himself. So I think that what Australians want is for the politicians to stop bickering among themselves and get on with looking after the everyday people.”

The Treasurer said he didn’t believe the Prime Minister had breached the ministerial codes of conduct in place now or when Mr Albanese was transport minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments, which state ministers “must not seek or encourage any form of gift in their personal capacity”.