The fact that the Prime Minister doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with asking the Qantas CEO for flight upgrades for personal travel – a whopping 22 times – is perhaps the worst aspect of this sad story.
Anthony Albanese asked then Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for the business and premium upgrades when Albo was Transport Minister, Shadow Transport Minister and Opposition Leader.
In other words, when he had portfolio responsibilities for Qantas.
Who seriously thinks the Qantas CEO thought he could say no?
How is it okay to personally request preference from a business leader who operates within the area your portfolio is responsible for?
Albo has not asked for upgrades since he became prime minister. I suspect he now has a taxpayer-funded plane of his own.
But he has certainly repaid the favor Qantas did him, rejecting Qatar’s bid for additional routes to Australia, which would have put downward pressure on airfares.
Instead, Qantas has happily maintained its market advantage under Albo’s premiership.
Anthony Albanese asked then Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for the business and premium upgrades when Albo was Transport Minister, Shadow Transport Minister and Opposition Leader. Above with Joyce and Mr Albanese’s fiancée, Jodie Haydon
Of course the Prime Minister will say that one has nothing to do with the other. What about the perception it might have?
If Albo were a bureaucrat within the Australian Public Service, his actions would conflict with the Ombudsman’s advice on avoiding ‘apparent’ or ‘potential’ conflicts of interest.
But because he is a politician and not a civil servant, a technical reading of the rules for MPs and Senators allows Albo to keep his snout firmly in the trough, and brazenly claim that there is nothing wrong with what he has done.
I doubt many voters agree.
One of the flight upgrades — less than a year before Scott Morrison’s family vacation to Hawaii on a Jetstar flight — was also for a 2019 vacation to Hawaii.
Only Albo flew in Qantas business class, also believed to have mocked up quality food and drinks in the Chairman’s Lounge before his departure.
Albo says he complied with all disclosure requirements on each of the 22 occasions he sought special assistance from the Qantas CEO.
What a relief.
Yes, he announced the upgrades, that much is true. However, he did not disclose that he had personally called the airline’s CEO to request (demand?) the said upgrades.
Technically, that’s not required under current disclosure provisions.
It’s also not technically against the rules to request special preference from an organization you oversee in a ministerial capacity, believe it or not.
Of course, that absolutely should be the case.
Albo thinks there is nothing to see here and that journalists are unfair to even ask questions about it.
He did nothing wrong, rules don’t need to change. Case closed.
He’s joking.
Even if Albo were to sail close to the wind and stay within the rules, they certainly need to be amended to prevent future MPs and Prime Ministers from doing what Albo did.
It’s deeply inappropriate.
The problem with admitting that the rules need to be changed is that it emphasizes that Albo’s personal moral compass was flawed.
He needed rules to keep him from doing the wrong thing.
That would be a bad look, so he sticks to his guns and claims that the existing rules are fit for purpose, when that is clearly not the case.
In any case, Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny flew Jetstar to Hawaii during their ill-timed overseas bushfire vacation
Albo thinks there is nothing to see here and that journalists are unfair to even ask questions about it
I have contacted the Prime Minister’s Office to find out more information about the circumstances surrounding these upgrades.
My request was addressed to Katharine Murphy, former political editor of Guardian Australia, who at the time was doing a good job of holding Coalition MPs accountable for their actions.
She now plays for Albo. I never heard anything back. Nothing, nada, zero.
I’m sure behind closed doors she advises Albo to live up to the standards she demanded of other politicians when she worked in journalism.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers was asked at his media conference today about Airbus Albo’s penchant for flight upgrades.
He made it clear that he certainly never asked the Qantas CEO for such a preference, nor does he think he ever received an unsolicited upgrade.
Chalmers’ disdain for Albo’s snout in the trough of our national airline was self-evident.
Albo’s 22 requests for upgrades are the ultimate example of what a politician is entitled to.
This from a Prime Minister who is simultaneously trying to use his personal backstory as evidence that he understands the needs and challenges of mainstream Australians.
Maybe he did that once. But over the past thirty years, as an MP, minister and prime minister, he has reaped the benefits of power and influence.
And he’s so blinded by that privilege that he can’t even see what’s wrong with it anymore.
