Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie issued a stunning rebuke to ABC presenter Patricia Karvelas after she tried to accuse the opposition of being in cahoots with Australia’s richest person, reminding her that a strong mining industry helps fund the national broadcaster .
The opposition’s transport spokeswoman has defended leader Peter Dutton after it emerged his office had approached mining giant Gina Rinehart to provide a free private plane to a Bali bombing memorial in November 2022.
“What does Gina Rinehart expect from that generosity?” Karvelas asked Ms McKenzie on her RN Breakfast show on Friday.
The National senator dismissed the idea that Ms Rhinehart, who is Australia’s richest person, was hoping for a “quid pro quo” deal.
Instead, he sought to return criticism to the Prime Minister, who faces damaging allegations that he received updates from Qantas on numerous occasions.
“Peter Dutton arranged a flight that saved Australian taxpayers $40,000 for a work event to commemorate the Bali bombing,” Ms McKenzie said.
“The Prime Minister may or may not have sought flights for his family abroad while he was Transport Minister protecting Qantas’ market share.”
But Karvelas continued his line of questioning, repeatedly asking if Mrs. Rinehart would expect anything in return.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie (pictured) issued a stunning rebuke to ABC presenter Patricia Karvelas after she attempted to accuse the opposition of being in cahoots with Australia’s richest person, reminding her that a strong mining industry helps finance the national broadcaster.
“What does Gina Rinehart expect from that generosity?” Karvelas asked Ms McKenzie on her RN Breakfast show on Friday.
An audibly frustrated Ms McKenzie crossed paths with the ABC presenter to say: “Rinehart is not the problem” and suggest it was just an attempt to generate “clickbait”.
Ms McKenzie went on to note that the Coalition made no secret of its desire to have a “strong, prosperous and sustainable mining industry”.
‘I can be very, very honest with you. The Coalition are friends of our mining and resources industry,’ he told Karvelas.
And he added: ‘It is the basis of our strong economy. It’s the foundation of your public health system and it funds our public education system… and things like the ABC, large public institutions open to all Australians, are funded because we have such a successful resources industry.
“I don’t think we need to be influenced by Gina Rinehart to be very, very clear as a Coalition to express our support for a sustainable resource industry now, you know, and I think it’s important to express that.”
The ABC received a record $1.137 billion in taxpayer funding during the last financial year.
Most of this funding comes from general government revenues, which are generated primarily through taxes on wages and, to some extent, taxes on mining companies, the country’s largest export industry.
The ATO’s latest Corporation Tax Transparency Report showed Australia’s mining industry remains the country’s largest taxpayer, paying $43.1 billion in corporation tax for 2022-23.
The comments came after a week in which the travel benefits scandal dominated political discussion.
A new book called The Chairman’s Lounge by journalist Joe Aston alleges Albanese obtained 22 economy class upgrades on Qantas flights by personally requesting them from the airline’s then chief executive, Mr Joyce.
The Prime Minister denied the allegations in a carefully worded statement on Wednesday.
“The Prime Minister never called Alan Joyce to request an upgrade,” the statement said.
The scandal has also engulfed the opposition and Mr Dutton faces questions over the $40,000 free flight he received from Mr Rinehart.
On Tuesday, the opposition leader told reporters that neither he nor his office had approached Ms Rinehart about a private flight taken in November 2022, but stepped back from his response two days later.
Peter Dutton has confirmed that his office requested a private jet from Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart (pictured together).
Dutton said he was traveling to Rockhampton at the time and needed to travel to Sydney for a memorial ceremony in Bali and was unable to get a commercial flight, which would then be needed to take him to Mackay.
‘We asked the government for an RAAF flight, they played around and didn’t offer that flight, and at the time I think we had a charter estimate, which was about $40,000 to fly from Rockhampton to Sydney and then back to Mackay.’ said.
“I thought it was very expensive and the cheapest option for the taxpayer was for my office to speak to Ms. Rinehart’s office to ask if the plane might be available.”
He bid farewell to Mr Albanese saying: “That was at no cost to the taxpayer.”
National Senator Ms McKenzie has also been caught out, admitting to the ABC that she was wrong to be “so emphatic earlier this week” in claiming she had never received a flight upgrade.
It has now requested a complete database of the flights it has taken and has promised to declare any improvements.