The shadow transport minister, Bridget McKenzie, says there is not always “a quid pro quo” when corporate leaders offer free flights to politicians, despite having accused the prime minister of being influenced by free flight upgrades he received from Qantas while transport minister.
McKenzie also admitted accepting a flight upgrade herself, and pledged to review all her travel for other possible upgrades she may not have declared.
She defended Peter Dutton accepting a free flight on businesswoman Gina Rinehart’s private jet to attend a Bali bombing memorial service, insisting she did not believe Rinehart expected anything in return.
“I don’t think we need to always think that people assisting has a quid pro quo and that’s why it’s important to have public declarations and important to look at behaviour,” she told ABC Radio National on Friday.
McKenzie is demanding a public inquiry into Anthony Albanese’s receipt of free flight upgrades from Qantas when he was transport minister, arguing that it may have influenced government decisions about the carrier.
“Look at what leaders do, not what they say,” she said.
Dutton said on Tuesday that he had not asked Rinehart for use of her private jet. But on Thursday he revealed that his office had contacted her company, Hancock Prospecting, to ask to use the plane after a government jet was unavailable.
“The cheaper option for the taxpayer was for my office to speak to Mrs Rinehart’s office as to whether the plane might be available,” he said on Thursday. “That was at zero cost to the taxpayer.”
McKenzie said Dutton’s receipt of the gift, which was declared on the register in November 2022, was different.
“Saving the taxpayer the money to get to this commemorative service, I think was the right decision … He’s declared it and he’s not in charge of the resources portfolio,” McKenzie said.
She said Rinehart offering Dutton free use of her jet did not mean she was seeking to influence the Coalition.
“I don’t think we need Gina Rinehart to influence us, to be very, very clear as a Coalition, to state our support for a sustainable resource industry.”
In September Dutton told the Minerals Council of Australia “a Dutton Coalition government will be the best friend that the mining and resources sector in Australia will ever have”.
McKenzie is also reviewing her own declarations on the parliamentary register of interests, acknowledging that her claim this week that she had never received an upgrade was inaccurate.
“I think it was wrong of me to be so emphatic about this,” she said on Friday morning. “I don’t probably believe I should be subjecting other people to standards I’m not prepared to subject myself to.”
But she also said her own receipt of upgrades was not the same as Albanese receiving them. “I think the difference between myself and the prime minister is, the prime minister was the minister for transport,” McKenzie told ABC Radio National on Friday.
“He was actually in charge of regulating the aviation sector, deciding whether Qantas market share was maintained or was subject to more competition. And I think that understanding the influence of gifts on decision making … well, that’s why we have to declare these things.”
Albanese has said it was the transport minister, Catherine King, who made the decision last year to refuse an application from Qatar Airways to increase flights to Australia. He told parliament at the time that Qantas had not lobbied him on the issue.
McKenzie said she has asked three airlines to check their records of her own travel, and acknowledged she may need to update the record. McKenzie said for “transparency and accountability” she would update her declarations as quickly as possible.
The journalist Joe Aston has alleged in his new book, The Chairman’s Lounge, that Anthony Albanese solicited free upgrades direct from the Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce for personal travel. He says he has declared all upgrades received.
Albanese has denied that allegation, reportedly telling 2GB’s Ben Fordham that he had not contacted Joyce about upgrades or shared his travel plans with him. Fordham said Albanese also denied sharing plans or seeking upgrades from someone else at Qantas.
McKenzie said nobody could say she had “gone soft on Qantas”.
“So my question is to the prime minister, and it’s on behalf of the Australian people: did you protect Qantas from additional competition?”
