The prime minister said it was appropriate for politicians to receive travel upgrades as long as they were appropriately declared on the parliamentary register.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended receiving free Qantas upgrades and obtaining a prized Chairman’s Lounge membership for his son, as the government comes under increasing pressure to end the airline’s stranglehold on taxpayer-funded flights for federal politicians and public servants.
“Every single thing has been declared, every single thing has been declared, which is why it has been reported on, and it is appropriate that those declarations occur,” he said at an event with the Italian community in Leichhardt, in his inner-west Sydney electorate of Grayndler.“From time to time, members of parliament receive upgrades; what’s important is that they are declared.Advertisement
Albanese, who returned from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa late on Saturday night, said he had the same relationship with Joyce as he had with John Borghetti, the former chief executive of Qantas’ main rival, Virgin Australia.Albanese said his son, Nathan, received access to Qantas’ exclusive Chairman’s Lounge when he and former wife Carmel Tebbutt separated.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said it was outrageous that Qantas received 80 per cent of federal taxpayer-funded travel even though it commands only a 63 per cent share of the domestic market.
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