By David Crowe
The federal Coalition will intensify pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to explain his Qantas flight upgrades after signalling plans to call the airline’s former boss to a Senate inquiry to reveal any personal requests for special treatment.
The Senate inquiry could require former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce to answer questions about the airline’s practice of giving free upgrades to politicians who also gained membership of the airline’s exclusive Chairman’s Lounge.
Anthony Albanese with then-Qantas CEO Alan Joyce at a 2023 gala celebrating the airline’s 100 years of operation.Credit: Getty Images
But the government hit back at the Coalition by pointing to Labor decisions on wages and workplace relations that were vigorously opposed by Qantas, arguing this showed Albanese did not help the company in exchange for flight upgrades.
Albanese also gained support from Labor caucus members who described the attacks on the prime minister as unfair when most politicians are members of the Chairman’s Lounge and many accept upgrades to business or first class.
An extract of The Chairman’s Lounge by Joe Aston, published in Good Weekend on Saturday, revealed that Albanese received at least 22 free Qantas upgrades from economy class, including some for his family and personal travel. Albanese and Joyce liaised directly on the upgrades, which Aston estimated were worth tens of thousands of dollars, according to Qantas insiders who spoke to the former Australian Financial Review columnist.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he had never asked Joyce for flight upgrades and thought Albanese should answer questions about whether he did so when he was transport minister or shadow minister “because I am not aware of anyone else having done it”.
“There are strange arrangements when you can pick the phone up to the CEO and ask [as] the transport minister for an upgrade to your arrangements,” Dutton said on Monday. “That’s what’s happened here.”
Albanese was the transport minister when Labor governed from 2007 to 2013 and became shadow minister until 2019, when he became opposition leader.
The Australian Financial Review reported on Monday that Albanese had not disclosed multiple flight upgrades for his former wife, Carmel Tebbutt, during their relationship despite transparency rules covering spouses. Tebbutt disclosed them to NSW parliament during her time as a state Labor MP.
The prime minister’s office said both had been transparent.“This is all a matter of public record. Both made relevant disclosures in their parliaments,” a spokeswoman said.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten defended Albanese over his former wife’s travel. “Carmel Tebutt is a smart and capable politician with lots of integrity and she made all the disclosures needed in state parliament, independently,” he said. “They were both politicians and they both complied.”
Coalition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie, who led a Senate inquiry into Qantas last year, said the Senate could form a new inquiry to hear from Joyce about flight upgrades for Albanese.
“There are clearly serious questions which only Mr Joyce and the prime minister can answer,” she said.
“We are considering all options to get to the bottom of the nature of the relationship between the Albanese government and Qantas – a relationship that has resulted in negative outcomes for shareholders, staff and loyal customers.”
Asked if Mr Joyce would appear before a Senate inquiry, his spokesman said: “No comment”.
McKenzie corrected the record on Monday afternoon after earlier claiming she had not received any upgrades from Qantas. “I had received a Qantas upgrade which was declared on my parliamentary register,” she said.
Labor caucus members, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the prime minister was under pressure. But Brisbane MP Graham Perrett said Albanese was being treated unfairly.
Asked his opinion of the controversy, Perrett responded with an emoji of an axe and said: “It is definitely a hatchet job. And I’ll tell Bridget McKenzie that the next time I see her quaffing champagne in the Chairman’s Lounge.”
Employment Minister Murray Watt said Labor had taken on Qantas on workplace relations and other issues when the Coalition had sided with the airline, such as when Joyce grounded the fleet in 2011 during a dispute with unions.
Watt said the government’s “same job, same pay” laws had been opposed by Qantas because they gave labour-hire workers extensively used by the airline a pay increase.
“I think any fair observer would have to say that we have not been shy about taking on Qantas when they’ve done the wrong thing by their workers or their customers, and, in fact, it’s the Liberal and National parties who’ve taken Qantas’ side on those issues,” he told ABC Radio National.
The parliamentary registers of financial interests show that most MPs accept free membership of the Qantas lounge and the Virgin Australia equivalent, while many also disclose free flight upgrades. But some do not declare what class of travel they were received and MPs face no effective sanction for vague disclosures.
Dutton accepted a Qantas flight upgrade for himself and his wife last December, for instance, as well as 14 other complimentary flights and upgrades from various companies over the past decade.
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