Anthony Albanese under fire over free Qantas upgrades
A journalist's new book has claimed that Anthony Albanese has been scoring free flight upgrades with Qantas for over 15 years.
According to AFR journalist Joe Aston's new book The Chairman’s Lounge, the PM and his family received upgrades from Qantas over his time as Transportation Minister and Opposition Leader between the years of 2007 and 2019.
Aston's investigation allegedly found that Albanese had used his relationship with former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to secure free upgrades to business and first-class flights on at least 22 occasions.
“According to Qantas insiders, Albanese would liaise with Joyce directly about his personal travel,” Aston wrote.
Albanese has defended these upgrades by stating they were all “declared as appropriate”, saying, “From time to time, members of parliament receive upgrades. What’s important is that they are declared. All of mine have been declared."
“I note that a range of them go back a long, a long period of time and that they have all been declared as appropriate.”
Despite claiming that the upgrades were all above board, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called the perks “a bit strange.”
“I think it is a bit strange that Mr Albanese is contacting the CEO of an airline when he is the shadow minister or minister for transport,” said Dutton.
“I very strongly believe in the need for people to declare their interests, and sometimes there are oversight and human error involved, but when you’re talking about having a personal phone call to ask for an upgrade, as the transport minister or shadow transport minister, then I presume the prime minister will answer questions about that.”
Image credits: Shutterstock/LUKAS COCH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial