WEBVTT - Qantas scandal just gets bigger

0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:06.800
<v Speaker 1>From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:15.040
<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, November one. An indigenous activist group, the convinced

0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.720
<v Speaker 1>Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to block a million dollar gold

0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:23.560
<v Speaker 1>mine in Blaney, has formed. The Australian is exclusively revealing

0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:28.600
<v Speaker 1>the Wiradjuri Elders group successfully opposed a bathist go kart

0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.959
<v Speaker 1>track in twenty nineteen. That story's live right now at

0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:39.479
<v Speaker 1>The Australian dot com Dot you. An upgrade to business

0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:44.479
<v Speaker 1>class has never been this uncomfortable. Anthony Alberinezi is seeking

0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.400
<v Speaker 1>to reassure his ministers he's done nothing wrong and is

0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:53.200
<v Speaker 1>the victim of unfair media reporting over allegations he solicited

0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:59.040
<v Speaker 1>Quantus flight upgrades, and now the coalition's transport spokeswoman is

0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:08.600
<v Speaker 1>facing question of her own. That's today's episode. If you've

0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.039
<v Speaker 1>ever been in Canberra on a Thursday night as Parliament

0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.920
<v Speaker 1>is rising for the week, you'll know you need to

0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.680
<v Speaker 1>stand back as politicians stampede to the airport.

0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.080
<v Speaker 2>They cannot get out of here fast enough.

0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.160
<v Speaker 1>Rosie Lewis is The Australian's political correspondent, and we're talking

0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.800
<v Speaker 1>about a story that's blown up in the face of

0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.959
<v Speaker 1>Labor and to a lesser extent, the Coalition in recent days.

0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:37.760
<v Speaker 1>It's about politician's cozy relationship with Quantus and it's turning

0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.840
<v Speaker 1>into one of those political scandals where you never know

0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.120
<v Speaker 1>who's going to have their ankles bitten next.

0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.760
<v Speaker 2>The fallout from there has been extremely messy for the

0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.880
<v Speaker 2>Prime Minister and we still what is it five six

0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.920
<v Speaker 2>days in, have unanswered questions. More questions continue emerging.

0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.600
<v Speaker 1>It started on Saturday when extracts were published of a

0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.320
<v Speaker 1>new book by Joe Aston, a former columnist with nine

0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.680
<v Speaker 1>Entertainment in his book. Aston, who's a former staffer for

0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.000
<v Speaker 1>PM John Howard and Treasury Joe Hockey, and he also

0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.600
<v Speaker 1>worked at Countus in the early days of his career

0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:22.440
<v Speaker 1>before becoming a journalist. He's alleged Anthony Albanezi has received

0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:27.520
<v Speaker 1>free upgrades from Quantus on domestic and international flights booked

0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.160
<v Speaker 1>not for work, but for himself and his family on

0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:32.240
<v Speaker 1>private travel.

0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:37.720
<v Speaker 2>The Prime Minister then held a press conference on Sunday.

0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.960
<v Speaker 3>From time to time, members of Parliament receive upgrades. What's

0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.400
<v Speaker 3>important is that they are declared. All of mine have

0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:47.720
<v Speaker 3>been declared.

0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:52.840
<v Speaker 2>That in my view, answered very few questions. When the

0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:57.160
<v Speaker 2>coverage continued and really only ramped up from there. The

0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.519
<v Speaker 2>Prime Minister, i think, tried to nip it in the

0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:05.160
<v Speaker 2>bud on Tuesday, but again made the problem worse with

0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.680
<v Speaker 2>a very confused press conference.

0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.600
<v Speaker 1>Did you call Alan Joyce personally for these upgrades?

0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:17.400
<v Speaker 3>Look, the idea quannas have a number in terms of

0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.239
<v Speaker 3>bookings that are my private bookings.

0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.480
<v Speaker 2>It was genuinely hard to understand what he was trying

0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.040
<v Speaker 2>to say as to when he had or hadn't spoken

0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.679
<v Speaker 2>to Alan Joyce, whether he had in fact solicited these

0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:36.240
<v Speaker 2>flight upgrades for personal travel, particularly personal overseas travel with

0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.720
<v Speaker 2>family members. That's at the heart of the sort of

0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.880
<v Speaker 2>bad look for al Ben Easy. Obviously, at some point,

0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.120
<v Speaker 2>maybe early on or maybe later, he and his office

0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.840
<v Speaker 2>realized that they needed to do a much better job

0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:54.600
<v Speaker 2>than they had done in clarifying exactly what had gone on.

0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.560
<v Speaker 2>So they were going back through his records, flight records

0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.560
<v Speaker 2>over nearly thirty years of his parliamentary career in the background,

0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.160
<v Speaker 2>and we then got a fairly late statement just before

0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.880
<v Speaker 2>six o'clock on Wednesday night. It was just a couple

0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.000
<v Speaker 2>of lines on record and the key being that he

0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:17.440
<v Speaker 2>had never called Alan Joyce. What we didn't get was

0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.880
<v Speaker 2>clarification as to whether he had spoken with Alan Joyce

0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.440
<v Speaker 2>in any other way ie text or email. What we

0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:31.240
<v Speaker 2>didn't get was clarification whether his office had spoken to

0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.160
<v Speaker 2>anyone at Quantas or the Prime Minister had spoken to

0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.960
<v Speaker 2>anyone at Quantus. So there was then more clarifying background

0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.320
<v Speaker 2>on Thursday morning from his office saying there had been

0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:45.320
<v Speaker 2>no other communication with Alan Joyce, And we know that

0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:49.560
<v Speaker 2>the Prime Minister spoke with two GB's Ben Fordham on

0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.320
<v Speaker 2>Wednesday night, ruling out a heap of things that he

0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.400
<v Speaker 2>himself had not spoken to Joyce or anyone else at

0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.200
<v Speaker 2>Quantas asking for an upgrade.

0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.880
<v Speaker 4>The question was asked, did you ever text Alan Joyce

0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:07.839
<v Speaker 4>about flight upgrades? The PM's answer no. Did you ever

0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:12.839
<v Speaker 4>email Alan Joyce about flight upgrades? The PM's answer again no.

0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:18.880
<v Speaker 2>The outstanding question now is did anyone in his office

0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.360
<v Speaker 2>do this? Did anyone in his office ring a particular

0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.599
<v Speaker 2>person or a particular phone number, and in doing so

0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:30.880
<v Speaker 2>were they effectively guaranteed an upgrade? The background I received

0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:36.200
<v Speaker 2>on Wednesday was that many different staff members, as you'd expect,

0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.400
<v Speaker 2>booked the Prime Minister's travel over his many years in

0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:44.320
<v Speaker 2>Parliament through the normal channels and upgrades were given in

0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.160
<v Speaker 2>the usual way to all politicians.

0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.240
<v Speaker 1>So why does it matter, Well, because Albanezie was the

0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.839
<v Speaker 1>Minister for Transport in Labour's former government, Danny was Opposition

0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.599
<v Speaker 1>transport spokesman, and Quantus is one of the country most

0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:05.560
<v Speaker 1>powerful businesses. It's a huge provider of travel to government employees,

0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.760
<v Speaker 1>including bureaucrats and politicians, and government has a critical role

0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:17.040
<v Speaker 1>in regulating Quantas and the aviation market, including any potential competitors.

0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.560
<v Speaker 5>The Transport Minister says the treatment of Australian women who

0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:25.000
<v Speaker 5>are subjected to invasive body searches at Doha Airport was

0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.360
<v Speaker 5>a factor in her decision to block extra cutter Airways

0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.640
<v Speaker 5>flights into the country. Catherine King says it was just

0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.920
<v Speaker 5>one factor but won't say what the others were, denying

0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.440
<v Speaker 5>accusations that it was Quantus that influenced her decision.

0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.960
<v Speaker 1>And it's a tough corporate player, embroiled in workplace dramas

0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.880
<v Speaker 1>like other big businesses. Free Form Aquantus workers who were

0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.520
<v Speaker 1>sacked during the pandemic have had a big win in

0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.400
<v Speaker 1>the Federal court. It's possible. I suppose rosy that Quantus

0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.480
<v Speaker 1>has a system that flags when a VIP books a

0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.880
<v Speaker 1>flight and automatically upgrades them, or just make sure that

0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.039
<v Speaker 1>that is sorted out. If that turns out to be

0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.279
<v Speaker 1>the case, is that the end of it? Or is

0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:06.279
<v Speaker 1>that also problematic?

0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:06.720
<v Speaker 3>Do you think?

0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.120
<v Speaker 2>I think it's much less problematic. But the problem for

0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.160
<v Speaker 2>the Prime Minister is the damage to an extent has

0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.680
<v Speaker 2>already been done. The government has been completely off message

0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:22.120
<v Speaker 2>and completely distracted by something that should have and could

0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.600
<v Speaker 2>have been dealt with on Day Dot.

0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:32.200
<v Speaker 1>Coming up, how the coalition's lead attacker got drawn into

0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:47.960
<v Speaker 1>the drama. Bridget McKenzie is a very colorful figure in

0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.240
<v Speaker 1>the opposition. She's been from and center leading the attack

0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.080
<v Speaker 1>on Anthony Albanezi. Now, if he wants to clear his name,

0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.160
<v Speaker 1>if he thinks he's got nothing to hide, then get

0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.760
<v Speaker 1>out here and tell us the truth. Get it on

0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.080
<v Speaker 1>the record, refer yourself to the Knack. And now she's

0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.880
<v Speaker 1>had to admit that she herself is trying to find

0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.720
<v Speaker 1>out whether she has ever received upgrades that she's failed

0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.520
<v Speaker 1>to declare on the Register of members' interests. How did

0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:15.440
<v Speaker 1>that go so wrong?

0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the PM needed to get his house in order

0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.200
<v Speaker 2>on Saturday. Bridget McKenzie needed to get her house in

0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.280
<v Speaker 2>order on Monday before she came out and demanded that

0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.560
<v Speaker 2>mister Albanezi release a full log of his flights. She

0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.320
<v Speaker 2>came out and said she had never asked or received

0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.960
<v Speaker 2>a flight upgrade, full stop, and within hours I believe

0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.200
<v Speaker 2>she had to correct the record because her register showed that,

0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.720
<v Speaker 2>in fact, she did receive an upgrade in twenty eighteen,

0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.360
<v Speaker 2>a couple of days later, and it's now turned out

0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.679
<v Speaker 2>she's facing questions as to whether she received more upgrades

0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.120
<v Speaker 2>and didn't disclose them properly, which can be sort of

0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.720
<v Speaker 2>in breach or in contempt of the Senate. Given that

0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:59.200
<v Speaker 2>Bridget McKenzie and Peter Dutton are leading the attack against

0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.280
<v Speaker 2>the Prime Minister, and given Bridget mackenzie has had to

0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.720
<v Speaker 2>resign as a minister in the past over the sports

0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.520
<v Speaker 2>forts saga, you would have thought she would have been

0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:14.360
<v Speaker 2>one hundred percent certain in her own affairs before coming

0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:15.840
<v Speaker 2>out in attack of the Prime Minister.

0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:20.600
<v Speaker 1>Does this whole story just speak to a culture that's

0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.520
<v Speaker 1>saturated in receiving upgrades and effectively gifts from airlines.

0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.800
<v Speaker 2>I think it does. We do have codes of conduct

0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.760
<v Speaker 2>for MPs, for ministers that are very clear about not

0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.360
<v Speaker 2>accepting gifts sort of personal gain that could be in

0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.640
<v Speaker 2>conflict with your work. But this is something that has

0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:45.360
<v Speaker 2>become so widespread, not just among politicians, also among the

0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:49.400
<v Speaker 2>people who work for them and other high ranking Australians.

0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.280
<v Speaker 2>But when you zoom out and look at it from

0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.920
<v Speaker 2>the eye of the punter, it doesn't quite feel right

0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.800
<v Speaker 2>or past the pub test, especially if you're soliciting something

0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.000
<v Speaker 2>which we know now the Prime Minister saying he personally

0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:05.640
<v Speaker 2>did not.

0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:08.920
<v Speaker 1>Okay and Rosie, what are the stakes here? Just finally,

0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.840
<v Speaker 1>if Anthony Alberonezi turns out to have made a mistake

0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.880
<v Speaker 1>and forgotten that in fact he or someone who works

0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.520
<v Speaker 1>for him did solicit an upgrade, or if Bridget mackenzie

0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.319
<v Speaker 1>discovers that yes, she also solicited upgrades and received them

0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.440
<v Speaker 1>and failed to disclose them, what happens to each of

0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.080
<v Speaker 1>those people was the most likely scenario.

0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.240
<v Speaker 2>I think this point. If it turns out that Bridget

0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.800
<v Speaker 2>McKenzie did receive upgrades, I don't think at this point

0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.600
<v Speaker 2>there's a suggestion she solicited them. That if she received

0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.120
<v Speaker 2>them and didn't disclose them, that does seem to be

0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.520
<v Speaker 2>a bad look. There are colleagues in our Canberra Bureau

0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.840
<v Speaker 2>who think she will have to go as Opposition Transport

0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.240
<v Speaker 2>spokeswoman if that turns out to be true. Peter Dutton

0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.600
<v Speaker 2>is standing by her at this stage that she hasn't

0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.200
<v Speaker 2>received her audit back yet, so let's wait and see.

0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:00.800
<v Speaker 2>But worst case scenario for Bridget Mackenzie she has to

0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.199
<v Speaker 2>step down from the front bench again Ivans and the

0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.960
<v Speaker 2>Albanezi turns out to have had his office solicit an upgrade.

0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:12.200
<v Speaker 2>He'll have to apologize for that, and he'll have to

0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.040
<v Speaker 2>answer endless questions from the Coalition as to whether that

0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:20.600
<v Speaker 2>raised a conflict. At this stage, though his cabinet standing

0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:25.000
<v Speaker 2>beside him, there's no leadership rumblings. So I think at

0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.200
<v Speaker 2>this point, worst case scenario for the Prime Minister is

0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.880
<v Speaker 2>lost weeks of parliament, lost, weeks of having any sort

0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.800
<v Speaker 2>of coherent message to the public in the lead up

0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.640
<v Speaker 2>to an election, but probably no scalp there. Bridget Mackenzie

0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.360
<v Speaker 2>would be the more likely scalp at this stage, pending

0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:42.480
<v Speaker 2>the outcome of her ordit.

0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.000
<v Speaker 1>Rosie Lewis is the Australian's political correspondent. If there are

0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.880
<v Speaker 1>any scalps. Our subscribers at The Australian will be the

0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.920
<v Speaker 1>first to know. Join us at the Australian dot com

0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.560
<v Speaker 1>dot au. A year's subscription is cheaper than a single

0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.800
<v Speaker 1>business class flight from Sydney to Melbourne, and we don't

0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:07.319
<v Speaker 1>have engineering issues, unexplained delays or warm chardonnay. Thanks for

0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.400
<v Speaker 1>joining us on the front. Our team is Kristin Amiot,

0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.240
<v Speaker 1>Jasper leik Lea Semaglu, Joshua Burton and Tiffany Demac.