Anthony Albanese reportedly met Labor MPs secretly to assure them he was not bullying Qantas bosses into making improvements, but an unimpressed aide branded the exercise a “massive abuse”.
Anonymous parliamentarians reportedly said nine newspapers that Albanese said the media would soon lose interest in the alleged scandal despite holding Labor to a “higher standard” on matters of probity than the Coalition.
“The same thing happened to Kevin (Rudd), the same thing to Julia (Gillard), then Bill (Shorten) and now me,” one MP quotes Mr Albanese.
Albanese reportedly assured his troops that his office had thoroughly reviewed their records before issuing a statement on Wednesday afternoon denying he had called former Qantas boss Alan Joyce to request free flight upgrades.
The Prime Minister also reportedly denied a Sky News story that update requests were directed at former Qantas executive Andrew Parker.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher reportedly defended Albanese, saying any changes to the reserves were made in the same way as any other member of parliament.
However, an anonymous MP told Nine that Mr Albanese’s speech was “a big surprise” and called it another example of how the Prime Minister’s office failed to “immediately close a damaging story” and dodged questions for days.
More to come