Twist as Qantas upgrade scandal backfires

Liberal frontbencher Bridget McKenzie has launched a surprise investigation into her own flight upgrades amid claims she has received freebies that were not declared on the parliamentary register.

As Labor moves to turn the heat back on the Coalition over the scandal, it has emerged that Senator McKenzie, who is leading the attack over the Prime Minister’s conduct, may have some outstanding paperwork herself.

Sources have told news.com.au that Senator McKenzie is understood to have received upgrades as recently as this year from Qantas.

But it’s not clear they were all disclosed on her parliamentary register of interests.

“Flying for work have been waitlisted for business a couple of times recently,‘’ Senator McKenzie told news.com.au.

“Today I have written to the airlines to go through my flight records back to 2011.”

News.com.au can also reveal that Labor even tried to ambush Senator McKenzie over the issue during an interview on Sunrise earlier in the week.

Social services minister Amanda Rishworth repeatedly asked her about her own approach to upgrades suggesting she knew something that Senator McKenzie was keen not to discuss.

In an explosive morning show exchange on Tuesday, Ms Rishworth said Mr Albanese had “publicly declared very, very clearly what he has been gifted”.

“We’ve seen many other MPs declare upgrades and rightly so, and they need to declare them,” she said.

Asked by host Karl Stefanovic if she had “rung” Mr Joyce for a better seat, the social services minister said: “No. No, I haven’t rung Alan Joyce (or) anyone about an upgrade”.

She went on to say her portfolio and family commitments kept her from travelling as much as others.

Stefanovic quipped that it was not the “most convincing answer” to a “pretty simple question” before turning to Senator McKenzie, who also took a dig at Ms Rishworth’s response but then repeatedly failed to answer if she had “called management” for an upgrade.

Pressed again, she said she was “happy to answer it” but instead went on the offensive again.

“There’s a difference from receiving a gift and declaring it on your register to actually getting on the blower and saying, ‘Listen, mate, the missus and I are going overseas on a holiday.’ How about upgrading those economy tickets?” Senator McKenzie said.

After a third and final time if she had ever called Mr Joyce “or anyone in Qantas”, she still did not answer the question.

“I do not have a hotline to request upgrades,” she said.

Mr Albanese alluded to the mystery during his own press conference.

“In terms of transparency, Bridget McKenzie can answer questions herself about things. Peter Dutton can answer questions about his flights,” he said.

“I assume, his flights, upgrades, the same circumstances I am in with the exception that I don’t have access to a private jet on call which has happened with Mr Dutton and it is up to him to explain that.”

Senator McKenzie’s attempt to audit her own upgrades came after a spokesman for Anthony Albanese claimed the Prime Minister had never called Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce to ask for flight upgrades.

“The Prime Minister did not ever call Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade,” the spokesman said, expressly denying for the first time claims in former The Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston’s book, The Chairman’s Lounge.

Aston claims in his book Qantas insiders told him that Mr Albanese “would liaise with Joyce directly about his personal travel” and received upgrades that only a Qantas CEO could issue.

Mr Albanese has now categorically denied this. However, it appears he may have booked flights on a Chairman’s Lounge “hotline” where upgrades were sometimes automatically offered by Qantas staff – the PM insists without him actually asking.

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