Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am.
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister's relationship with former Quantus CEO Alan Joyce
Speaker 1: and whether he likes a free upgrade has been the
Speaker 1: talk of Canberra, prompted by the publication of a new book,
Speaker 1: The Chairman's Lounge. A speculation about what the book would
Speaker 1: reveal had been swirling for months, and it was widely
Speaker 1: known in political circles that some of it would be
Speaker 1: bad for the Prime Minister. But when it was finally published,
Speaker 1: Albernezi and his office seemed unprepared. Today, special correspondent for
Speaker 1: the Saturday Paper Jason cottsircus on the upgrade saga that's
Speaker 1: entangled politicians from both major parties and whether it matters
Speaker 1: if politicians get a fancy drink in a fancy chair.
Speaker 1: It's Monday, November four, So Jason tell me where the
Speaker 1: story of the Quantus upgrades begins.
Speaker 2: So it kicked off last week because of a book,
Speaker 2: but there's actually been a lot of tension between the
Speaker 2: author of this book, a former Australian Financial Review columnist
Speaker 2: named Joe Aston, and the Prime Minister for quite a while.
Speaker 2: Last year. Joe Aston wrote a story in the Financial
Speaker 2: Review reporting that Anthony Albaneze's son Nathan, had been granted
Speaker 2: membership to Quantus's exclusive Chairman's Lounge. That story, coming so
Speaker 2: soon after Transport Minister Catherine King had blocked an application
Speaker 2: from Cutter Airways to add more international flights to Australian roots,
Speaker 2: dogged Anthony Albanzi for weeks. He refused to confirm or
Speaker 2: deny whether his son had a membership. He also rang
Speaker 2: the editor of The Australian to Review, Michael Stutchbury, to
Speaker 2: ask him not to run the story. He was also
Speaker 2: facing question day after day about whether his son's membership
Speaker 2: of the Chairman's Lounge had somehow led him to act
Speaker 2: in Quantus's interests over Cutter Airways, and this story infuriated
Speaker 2: some members of Anthony Aberzi's front bench at the time.
Speaker 2: They just couldn't understand why the Prime Minister didn't come
Speaker 2: out straight away and say, yes, Nathan is a member
Speaker 2: of the Chairman's Lounge, but he shouldn't be and I've
Speaker 2: asked him to hand back his membership to Quantas.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Joe asked OFMS reporting on this. It turned
Speaker 1: into a book, The Chairman's Lounge, tell me about what's
Speaker 1: in that book when it comes to Anthony Albanese's travel.
Speaker 2: So this is a book that's really about Quantus and
Speaker 2: Alan Joyce and how Joe Aston believes that Alan Joyce
Speaker 2: mismanaged the company in the second half of his tenure
Speaker 2: as chief executive. But the most explosive allegations in the
Speaker 2: book concerned the Prime Minister, Anthony Alberanzi and Joe Aston's
Speaker 2: delegation is that during the time between twenty nine and
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, Albanesi received twenty two free upgrades for
Speaker 2: himself and one upgrade for his family. You know, this
Speaker 2: book has been the talk of Canberra for months, and
Speaker 2: by the time it was published last week it was
Speaker 2: widely known in the press gallery and I'm sure in
Speaker 2: the ministerial wing that there were several sections of the
Speaker 2: book that would cause problems for Anthony Alberenesi. But instead
Speaker 2: of being ready for questions, it seemed to me that
Speaker 2: they were quite flat footed. He was asked about his
Speaker 2: relationship with Joyce and Quantas and he just tried to
Speaker 2: bat those questions away by saying that every single thing
Speaker 2: had been declared.
Speaker 3: I have at all times, at all times acted in
Speaker 3: a transparent and appropriate way.
Speaker 2: He was also asked about whether his son was a
Speaker 2: member of the Chairman's Lounge, and the Prime Minister did
Speaker 2: concede that, yes, Nathan was a member of the Chairman's Lounge,
Speaker 2: but he tried to explain that by saying that when
Speaker 2: he separated from his then wife, Carmel Tebbett in January
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, he simply transferred the plus one entitlement to
Speaker 2: his son. The Prime Minister said, I think you know
Speaker 2: that people's family shouldn't be the subject of targeting, that
Speaker 2: this all happened a while ago. It was a very
Speaker 2: simple explanation. But the problem was that this was the
Speaker 2: first time that Albanzier really confirmed his son's membership of
Speaker 2: the Chairman's Lounge, and it ended up making things a
Speaker 2: lot worse for him.
Speaker 1: Right how so, Jason.
Speaker 2: Well in the newspapers on Monday, Johnalist kind of seized
Speaker 2: on two new details. Firstly, Albanezy he confirmed that his
Speaker 2: son was a member of the Chairman's Lounge, but he
Speaker 2: had not declared that his son's membership on his parliamentary
Speaker 2: declaration of interests, as members of Parliament typically do for
Speaker 2: their or a partner when it comes to the Chairman's Lounge.
Speaker 2: And the other detail that journalist seized on was that
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister's fiance, Jody Hayden, had also received a
Speaker 2: complimentary Chairman's Lounge membership in October twenty twenty two, and
Speaker 2: that's something that is declared on the Prime Minister's Register
Speaker 2: of interests. So according to the Prime Minister last Sunday,
Speaker 2: Nathan was his plus one, but Jody Hayden was also
Speaker 2: a plus one. So you know the circumstances around his
Speaker 2: son's membership. Yeah, not entirely clear.
Speaker 1: Right, And so how did he go on to respond
Speaker 1: to those details.
Speaker 2: Well, he gave another press conference on Tuesday, and I
Speaker 2: think he made things even worse for himself when he
Speaker 2: decided that he would try to play the man and
Speaker 2: not the ball and lashed out at Joyston personally.
Speaker 3: Now I've declared everything. I just made this point, and
Speaker 3: I just make the point as well that the person
Speaker 3: who is trying to sell a book and fair enough,
Speaker 3: I don't see decorations. He's a former Liberal Party staffer
Speaker 3: for a number of senior members of the Liberal Party,
Speaker 3: including Joe Hockey and Bruce Baird. I don't see decorations.
Speaker 3: He as a former Quanus employee, I don't see decorations.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The problem with that, though, is that Joe Aston did
Speaker 2: make those declarations and he kind of couldn't have been
Speaker 2: more explicit about it because those declarations are contained in
Speaker 2: the first line of the book's first page.
Speaker 1: Right, and the strategy of attacking the messenger it rarely
Speaker 1: works in this case though, it seems to have significantly backfired.
Speaker 1: So why did the Prime Minister choose to respond in
Speaker 1: this way?
Speaker 2: Well, from my conversations with people in the Prime Minister's office,
Speaker 2: they recognized that, you know, Albanezy himself knows that he
Speaker 2: fucked up with that answer. Yeah, that's what someone told me.
Speaker 2: He knows he fucked up. But another key alban easy
Speaker 2: ally had the Minister for Defense Industry, Pat Conroy, he
Speaker 2: landed the attack on Joe Aston a little better. When
Speaker 2: he appeared at the National Press Club on Wednesday. He
Speaker 2: said it was actually very important to point out Aston's
Speaker 2: affiliation with the Liberal Party, and he said these the
Speaker 2: claims in this book are made by a former Liberal
Speaker 2: staffer who as recently as three months ago was the
Speaker 2: headline act at a federal Liberal fundraiser. But a bit
Speaker 2: of a feeding frenzy had already sort of developed in
Speaker 2: Canberra around this issue, and late on Wednesday, the Prime
Speaker 2: Minister's spokeswoman was forced to issue a statement to the
Speaker 2: media saying that the Prime Minister had not ever called
Speaker 2: Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade. But even that didn't kill
Speaker 2: the issue, because that statement seemed to kind of leave
Speaker 2: open the possibility that perhaps the Prime Minister had tried
Speaker 2: to contact the CEO of quantest via and other means,
Speaker 2: and Sydney Radio present Ben Fordham he reached out to
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister personally and he read out a text
Speaker 2: message exchange that he had had with the PM on
Speaker 2: air on two GB on Thursday.
Speaker 4: The question was asked, did you ever text Alan Joyce
Speaker 4: about flight upgrades? The PM's answer no. Did you ever
Speaker 4: email Alan Joyce about flight upgrades? The PM's answer again no.
Speaker 4: Did you ever share with Alan Joyce any flights or
Speaker 4: travel plans without specifically asking for an upgrade? The PM
Speaker 4: replied no.
Speaker 2: The PM said, you know, over thirty years there could
Speaker 2: have been a mistake, but we've gone through the records
Speaker 2: and there are none. Why would you call the CEO
Speaker 2: of quantas to discuss your flights anyway, I haven't spoken
Speaker 2: to Alan in a very long time.
Speaker 1: So who to believe the author of the Chairman's lounge
Speaker 1: or the Prime Minister? That's after the break Jason Joe
Speaker 1: Aston says that Anthony Abenezi asked the QUANTU CEO, Alan
Speaker 1: Joyce to upgrade flights for him. However, Anthony Alberinezi firmly
Speaker 1: denies ever having done this. So who should we believe you?
Speaker 2: Well, it's a really tricky situation. Joe Aston says he's
Speaker 2: very confident of his sourcing, but we know he didn't
Speaker 2: speak to Alan Joyce, and we know he didn't speak
Speaker 2: to the Prime Minister, so how did he get this information?
Speaker 2: We really do have to trust the Prime Minister when
Speaker 2: he says that he has been through thirty years of
Speaker 2: flight records. He's got to be confident because Alan Joyce
Speaker 2: is likely to be called back before a Senate committee
Speaker 2: to answer questions around this issue. So perhaps we'd better
Speaker 2: wait and see what Alan Joyce has to say before
Speaker 2: we really issue a kind of any further judgment on
Speaker 2: who to believe here.
Speaker 1: And the focus has been on the Prime Minister on
Speaker 1: this issue, but of course, he is not the only
Speaker 1: politician accused of accepting various perks while in office. I
Speaker 1: mean you could almost say it's endemic to the political class.
Speaker 2: Joe Aston actually points out in his book that Alban
Speaker 2: Easy isn't alone here. Did you ever ring Alan Joyce
Speaker 2: or anyone in Cornersman?
Speaker 4: I do not have a hotline to request upgrades.
Speaker 1: I have received an upgrade.
Speaker 2: Opposition Transport spokeswoman Bridget Mackenzie was forced to admit this
Speaker 2: week that she may have received flight upgrades and not
Speaker 2: properly declared them on her register of interest.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know I was wrong earlier this
Speaker 4: week to be so emphatic. I did end up having
Speaker 4: an upgrade that I had declared, but it really highlighted
Speaker 4: for me the need to check.
Speaker 2: The Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who spent most of last
Speaker 2: week calling for Alban Easy, to refer himself to the
Speaker 2: Knack the National Anti Corruption Commission. He also admitted that
Speaker 2: he wasn't immune to a freebee either. In twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: Dutton borrowed mining billionaire Gena Reinhart's private plane to fly
Speaker 2: from Queensland to Sydney, and the optics of that aren't
Speaker 2: good either. In fact, a photo has been circulating of
Speaker 2: Gina Ryn Hutt and Peter Dutton on the steps of
Speaker 2: a Quantus plane waving to the gameras in Peter Dutton's defense,
Speaker 2: he accused the government of playing games and by not
Speaker 2: making a taxpayer funded vip jet available.
Speaker 4: The cheap option for the taxpayer was for my office
Speaker 4: to speak to Missus Reinhart's office as to whether the
Speaker 4: plane might be available.
Speaker 3: That was at zero cost to the taxpayer.
Speaker 2: But Peter Dutton hasn't hesitated to charge taxpayers in recent years.
Speaker 2: Between February and August last year, he spent two hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty four thousand dollars worth of taxpayers money for
Speaker 2: the use of VIP planes. Government Services Minister Bill Shot
Speaker 2: chipped in on this this week. And you know, according
Speaker 2: to Bill Shot and the oppositions trying to make a
Speaker 2: meal of this, they've held themselves up to be saintly,
Speaker 2: but actually they're not right.
Speaker 1: But I suppose what is important here is what all
Speaker 1: of this might tell us about the character of the
Speaker 1: politicians involved. So do you think that this has altered
Speaker 1: people's perception of the PM?
Speaker 2: Well, I think this does go to the PM styles
Speaker 2: as a leader. A former labor staffer that I spoke
Speaker 2: to this week, who's who's known the Prime minister since
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety six, He said to me, look, this is
Speaker 2: this is classic alban Easy. You know he thinks he
Speaker 2: knows best, but he's actually terrible on the detail. If
Speaker 2: you were to ask him, you know who read it
Speaker 2: on who in the Merrickville South ailed his sub branch
Speaker 2: elections in the early nineteen nineties, then you know, no problem.
Speaker 2: Helban Easy can recall every vote. But when he's under
Speaker 2: pressure in front of the cameras far too often, you know,
Speaker 2: this person said to me, you see him trip himself up.
Speaker 2: We did see that, of course during the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two election campaign, when you know the Prime Minister got
Speaker 2: into hot water over not being able to recall key
Speaker 2: economic figures etc. Another Labour insiders said that, you know,
Speaker 2: Albanesi's love for a freebie is becoming a bit of
Speaker 2: an open secret, whether it's VIP flights, tickets to sporting
Speaker 2: events or concerts. You know, rubbing shoulders with corporate high
Speaker 2: flyers at these events. The PM is starting to look
Speaker 2: out of touch and don't forget you know this is
Speaker 2: coming off the back of news that the Prime Minister
Speaker 2: bought a four point three million dollar house on the
Speaker 2: New South Wales Central Coast just a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 2: which many people also thought was a bad look and
Speaker 2: that showed how out of touch the PM is when
Speaker 2: it comes to the everyday struggles of ordinary Australians.
Speaker 1: Jason, thank you for your time.
Speaker 2: Absolute pleasure to talk with you.
Speaker 1: Ruby. Also in the news today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi
Speaker 1: has announced that a re elected Labor government would slash
Speaker 1: student debt by twenty percent. According to the government, this
Speaker 1: would cut around sixteen billion dollars in debt and would
Speaker 1: apply to a range of income contingent loans, including help
Speaker 1: debts and apprenticeship loans. The plan would see an average
Speaker 1: help debt of twenty seven thousand, six hundred reduced by
Speaker 1: around five thousand, five hundred and twenty, with the whole
Speaker 1: package costing the budget more than five hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1: The changes would take effect in June next year, and
Speaker 1: the Education Minister, Jason Clair, has admitted he asked for
Speaker 1: and received a free flight upgrade from Quantus in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Mister Claire said he had recently had surgery, and recalls
Speaker 1: calling and probably speaking with a government relations official were
Speaker 1: arranged an upgrade for his private overseas trip. The minister
Speaker 1: declared the flight at the time, I'm Ruby Jones. This
Speaker 1: is seven am. See you tomorrow