Australian PM defends his free first-class upgrades on Qantas flights

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has come under fire after allegations that he requested free flight upgrades from national carrier Qantas.

Mr Albanese defended the first-class upgrades after it was reported that he received at least 20 free upgrades in more than a decade.

"From time to time, members of parliament receive upgrades. What’s important is that they are declared. All of mine have been declared," he said.

"I note that a range of them go back a long, a long period of time [and] that they have all been declared as appropriate," he said.

The claims surfaced in extracts from books by the former Australian Financial Review journalist Joe Aston and were published in the newspaper this weekend.

The boo, The Chairman’s Lounge: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out, claimed that Mr Albanese directly dealt with former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce on many occasions.

It said the prime minister declared flight upgrades on about 20 Qantas flights between 2009 and 2019 during her work in the government at various positions including transport minister, shadow transport minister and opposition leader.

Some of the flights were declared as “personally funded” and destinations were to Rome, London, Los Angeles and Honolulu.

“According to Qantas insiders, Albanese would liaise with Joyce directly about his personal travel,” Aston reported.

He had also asked Mr Joyce to make his son Nathan a member of the Chairman’s Lounge in 2022.

Mr Albanese defended the request to include his son to the programme saying Nathan was his “plus one” after the end of his marriage.

Senior cabinet minister have defended the prime minister’s actions while some opposition leaders have said it was “a bit strange”.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton called it “strange arrangements”.

“If you are the transport minister and you are picking up the phone to one of the most important stakeholders in your portfolio, asking for a free upgrade … I am not aware of anyone else having done it,” Mr Dutton said on Monday.

“I think it is a bit strange that Mr Albanese is contacting the CEO of an airline when he is the shadow minister or minister for transport,” he said.

Opposition Transport Minister Bridget McKenzi said the prime minister needs to tell the total value of those upgrades.

"The Australian public needs to be told exactly how many private and public upgrades were provided to Mr Albanese and his family and what the total value of those upgrades are," she told the ABC.

Environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, defended Mr Albanese’s conduct.

“The most important thing is if you receive a benefit like this, that it is declared … This has been on the public record the whole time,” Ms Plibersek, told Sunrise. “I don’t think it’s any surprise that in the role of transport and infrastructure minister you’d be travelling a lot.”

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said he did not think Mr Albanese would ever ask for an upgrade.

Mr Joyce, the boss of Australian airline Qantas stepped down from his job last year — two months earlier than planned — following a series of embarrassing revelations about the company, including allegations it sold tickets for flights that had already been canceled.