Anthony Albanese under fire over free Qantas upgrades

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under pressure to explain his relationship with former Qantas chief Alan Joyce after a new book revealed he had received dozens of free upgrades for personal travel with the airline after making direct requests to the then-CEO.

The Chairman’s Lounge, by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston, reveals that Albanese received at least 22 free Qantas upgrades from economy class, including some for his family and for personal travel, which amounted to tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts.

Anthony Albanese with then-Qantas CEO Alan Joyce at a 2023 gala celebrating the airline’s 100 years of operation.Credit: Getty Images

According to the book, an extract of which was published in this masthead’s Good Weekend magazine on Saturday, Qantas insiders told Aston that Albanese would liaise with Joyce directly about his personal travel.

Coalition aviation spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie – who led the Senate inquiry into Qantas last year – said these revelations are a huge concern and accused Albanese of prioritising the airline over the Australian people.

“It’s something the prime minister can’t avoid answering questions about,” she told this masthead.

The revelations contained in the new book will reignite questions about federal Labor’s decision to reject Qatar Airways’ bid to add 21 weekly flights to Australia and whether it was against national interests.

Albanese appears to have declared the upgrades on parliament’s register of members’ interests, in line with the rules for MPs, but the details of how he received them have not been revealed until now. The prime minister received the upgrades when he was transport minister, then opposition transport spokesman, and opposition leader.

While other Qantas executives could authorise “space available” upgrades in flight bookings – meaning an upgrade would occur only if there was an empty business or first class seat after check-in closed – only Joyce could issue guaranteed upgrades which Albanese received, according to the book.

The prime minister’s office declined to comment when asked whether Albanese was too close to Qantas and whether he had declared all pecuniary interests associated with the airline.

Albanese was in Samoa for a Commonwealth meeting on Saturday and took questions on international matters, but ended a press conference before he could be asked about Qantas. Joyce also declined to comment.

“This is on a scale that I think bears much further scrutiny, and I think there are deep questions for the prime minister,” McKenzie said on Saturday. “He himself claims he wants to see a transparent and accountable parliament, this is their opportunity to show that.”

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Liberal MP Garth Hamilton said Albanese “simply is not a prime minister for our time”.

“Mums and dads around Australia are fighting to pay their bills, meanwhile the prime minister is fighting for a free upgrade,” he said.

The book reveals that in July 2009, when Albanese was transport minister, he received an upgrade to business class from Qantas for Sydney-Los Angeles return flights; in April 2010, he and his son Nathan received a “ticket upgrade” on Sydney-Rome return flights from Emirates; and in July 2011 Albanese accepted upgrades from Emirates travelling unofficially to and from Europe.

In addition, Albanese had personal trips to Hawaii in 2012, 10 different privately funded flights within Australia, and one from Sydney to London and from Rome to Sydney in 2013, another return flight between Sydney and London in 2016 and another flight to Honolulu in 2019 upgraded.

Centre for Public Integrity chairman Anthony Whealy, KC, a former judge, said the close relationships between government and corporate leaders was a significantly flawed part of Australia’s democracy.

“It runs both ways. You have big money seeking to associate with the prime minister and senior ministers and then in return you see the prime minister and senior ministers looking for favours with big money,” Whealy said.

“It represents a significant failure of our democratic systems, and we need to fix it fast.”

Centre for Public Integrity senior counsel Geoffrey Watson said Albanese’s relationship with the former Qantas CEO was worse than a bad look: “This is the kind of thing which in some circumstances can be interpreted as corruption.”

Beyond flight upgrades, MPs automatically receiving membership of Qantas’ Chairman’s Lounge was another controversy Aston wrote about, after he first revealed via his Australian Financial Review Rear Window column in 2023 that Albanese’s son Nathan had been granted membership.

The Chairman’s Lounge has previously been described by Joyce as “probably the most exclusive club in the country”. Membership is at the discretion of Qantas and is given to all federal politicians, others in high-profile and influential jobs in politics, the public service, business and law.

All major domestic airports have a lounge with discreet secret doors, which inside has table service, an a la cart menu and a buffet. Members automatically get upgraded to business class if there are spare seats and do not have to use points.

In the book, Aston says that minutes after he asked Albanese’s office for comment on his son’s membership, the prime minister called The Australian Financial Review’s then-editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, and argued that politicians’ families should be off limits.

During Labor’s Indigenous Voice to parliament campaign, Qantas formally declared its support for the referendum as Joyce committed to flying the Uluru Dialogue team around the country to help spread the message to regional and remote areas. Three of the company’s aircraft featured an official Yes23 logo.

Joyce was chief executive of Qantas for 15 years from 2008 until his fast-tracked resignation in September last year following weeks of damning publicity after the airline posted record profits at a time of high-cost airfares, blockbuster allegations that it advertised and sold tickets for already cancelled flights, and a $10 million bonus to Joyce.

The string of benefits Albanese and other politicians receive from Qantas sparked intense scrutiny when Transport Minister Catherine King confirmed in July 2023 that the government was not considering Qatar Airways’ application to add 21 flights to its services from Doha into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Qatar’s application, made in 2022, was forecast to be a $1 billion economic gain in tourism and spending in Australia from the extra flights and would create greater competition in the aviation industry.

Qantas had opposed the application from Qatar as it would increase competition for them on International routes.

King claimed one of the reasons for rejecting the airline’s application was the forced invasive examinations of Australian women from a Qatar flight at Doha airpor during the pandemic. However, this contradicted an earlier interview with this masthead when King said the airport incident was not behind the decision to decline the application.

Two Labor ministers who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday dismissed the revelations, one saying if the flights were declared there was no problem, while the other said Albanese had always been authentic and refused to beat up on big business to have better engagement.

Separately, a Labor backbencher said that after looking at how Qantas behaved under Joyce, it was a good lesson to not get too close to major business leaders.

“The optics are bad, and I think we need to be very careful about this sort of stuff,” the backbencher said.

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