Qantas luxury flight upgrades blinded Anthony Albanese’s to the airline’s plummeting customer service after COVID and convinced the prime minister the Flying Kangaroo’s backing would be an asset to the Voice campaign, says the author who exposed the close relationship. Joe Aston, who revealed Albanese had personally contacted former Qantas boss Alan Joyce to get free luxury flight upgrades on personal trips, said he did not allege a quid pro quo but said the prime minister had become detached from the experience of the travelling public. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese requested upgrades from Qantas.
Credit: Steven Siewert “Albanese had never had to call up and wait 11 hours on hold to get someone in the Qantas call centre to help him redeem his COVID credit or track down a lost bag,” Aston told 3AW radio on Tuesday. “Albanese seemed to be the very last person to realise that Qantas was on the nose and had become a toxic brand because of the mistreatment of its customers.” But government ministers defended Albanese over his travel, which sometimes included family members.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth told Nine’s Today program on Tuesday the revelations had been a “complete pile-on on the prime minister”. “He’s publicly declared very, very clearly that he has been gifted, as have other MPs. And I think the pile on from the Coalition really shows that I think there’s something to ‘if you are in a glass house, don’t throw stones’,” .
