Amanda Rishworth has defended revelations that Anthony Albanese received dozens of free Qantas flight upgrades, saying the attack on the Prime Minister is “a complete build-up”.
The Social Services Minister appeared on Nine’s Today Show on Tuesday morning, where the Prime Minister’s relationship with the national airline was highlighted.
Excerpts from a forthcoming book by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston, The Chairman’s Lounge, list at least 22 free upgrades to economy class tickets, dating back to 2009, when Albanese was transport minister under the Rudd government .
In his book, Aston also claims Albanese personally approached former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for dozens of free Qantas flight upgrades, including with an international partner on a trip to Rome.
“I think this has been a complete burden on the Prime Minister. I mean, he has publicly stated very, very clearly what he has been gifted, as have other MPs,” Ms Rishworth told presenter Karl Stefanovic.
“And I think the Coalition’s pile of stuff really shows that I think there’s something to that, if you’re in a glass house, not throwing stones.”
‘We have seen many other MPs declare improvements and rightly so, and they need to declare them. But Peter Dutton has accepted improvements. Bridget McKenzie has made improvements.
“You know, this needs to be declared on the public record.”
Amanda Rishworth has defended revelations that Anthony Albanese received dozens of free flight upgrades from Qantas and said the attack on the Prime Minister is a “total load”.
Stefanovic then asked Ms Rishworth if she had ever personally called Mr Joyce to request an upgrade.
‘Me personally? “No, I haven’t called Alan Joyce to ask for an upgrade,” he said.
‘I’ve been confined at home, I haven’t gone to many places. I have two young children, so I don’t travel as much as other people. But no, that’s not something I did.
National Senator Bridget McKenzie said there was a difference between receiving a gift and declaring it on your registry “to actually getting nervous and saying, ‘listen mate, my missus and I are going on holiday abroad, how about we upgrade those gifts?’ ? Cheap tickets?”,’.
“I don’t know of any other Transport Minister who has telephoned the CEO of Qantas to request gifts for family holidays,” he said.
Asked if she thought a Senate inquiry should be held into the matter, Ms McKenzie said: “People are rightly furious about this.”
Excerpts from a forthcoming book by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston, The Chairman’s Lounge, list at least 22 free upgrades to economy class tickets, dating back to 2009, when Albanese was transport minister during the Rudd government (pictured is Anthony Albanese with his partner Jodie Haydon and former Qantas boss Alan Joyce)
Rishworth responded by saying that the Labor Party was the one who supported Qantas workers in terms of redundancies and pay rises.
In his new book, Aston also claimed that shortly after being elected prime minister in May 2022, Albanese asked then-Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce to appoint his 23-year-old son Nathan to the Chairman’s Lounge, an invitation-only airline benefit. .
Albanese defended the deal saying his son became his “plus one” after his marriage to former Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt ended.
But that doesn’t explain why his partner, Mrs. Haydon, is also “a companion” for the Lounge.
It is also claimed in the book The Chairman’s Lounge that Nathan’s membership in the Chairman’s Lounge was not listed in Mr Albanese’s register of interests, which records significant gifts to MPs.
Albanese said he had declared “all flight upgrades” he had acquired himself.
“From time to time members of parliament receive promotions, the important thing is that they are declared, all of mine have been declared, I note that some of them go back a long period of time,” he said.
“They are all declared, which is what corresponds.”
While he said it was a personal “matter” whether politicians accepted airline profits, he said his relationship with Joyce was the same one he shared with former Virgin Australia boss John Borghetti.