Health Minister Mark Butler has claimed receiving flight upgrades at the airport is commonplace amid ongoing fallout from the escalating Qantas scandal.
The controversy has engulfed both sides of politics following allegations Prime Minister Anthony Albanese solicited flight upgrades from former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce .politicians have called on parliament to surrender their VIP Qantas perksIn an interview on Sky News' Sunday Agenda, Labor’s Health minister explained he “didn’t ask anyone” for his business class upgrade, declared in July of 2023.
“To the best of my recollection, I was in Melbourne for a colleague's 50th birthday on the weekend – obviously I'd paid for my flight,” he said. “If they have a spare business class seat, generally they'll upgrade an economy class passenger up to that.” Mr Butler declared in his parliamentary register of members’ interests he was gifted airport lounge membership from Qantas and Virgin Australia Airlines.
The cosy relationship between Qantas and the more than 90 per cent of politicians who have declared membership to the Chairman’s Lounge has engulfed political debate.The scandal has since crossed the political divide and it was recently revealed shadow transport minister“She was the chief prosecutor in this sort of saga over the last couple of weeks and yet was obviously pretty casual about the way in which she declared her own upgrades,” he said.
Qantas Scandal Lobbying Health Minister Parliament Bridget Mckenzie Government Qantas Shadow Transport Minister Qantas Flight Upgrades Department Of Transport Alan Joyce Australian Politics Health Minister Mark Butler Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Mark Butler
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