Anthony Albanese ‘never contacted Alan Joyce’ over Qantas flights upgrades

Anthony Albanese has emphatically ruled out ever seeking flight upgrades from former Qantas boss Alan Joyce, five days after the bombshell claims first emerged.

After his office issued a statement on Wednesday confirming the Prime Minister had never called the former chief executive for flight upgrades — which left open the question of whether he had used other means of contact — it’s since been confirmed Mr Albanese never texted or emailed Mr Joyce, and never had in-person conversations with him regarding flight upgrades.

It’s also been confirmed Mr Albanese never directly shared any flight or travel plans with Mr Joyce, or other senior Qantas figures including senior executive Andrew Parker — amid reports he had handled Mr Albanese’s upgrades.

The PM has maintained all travel undertaken over his nearly 30 years in Parliament has been appropriately declared, and it’s understood all upgrades have been a decision ultimately made by Qantas.

It’s understood his office has spent days combing through Mr Albanese’s records and declarations to ensure they had not missed anything.

The PM has not himself fronted media since Tuesday, but 2GB host Ben Fordham reported Mr Albanese had said he hadn’t spoken to Mr Joyce in “a very long time”.

“Over 30 years, there could have been a mistake, but we’ve gone through the records and there are none,” Mr Albanese said, according to Fordham.

“Why would you call the CEO of Qantas to discuss your flights anyway?”

Fordham said: “Anthony Albanese says he’d just booked the economy flights and got an upgrade to the front of hte plane, and he wasn’t asking for anything. That’s what he’s told us”.

Mr Albanese has been under mounting pressure this week after a new book by Joe Aston claimed Mr Albanese had secured 22 free flight upgrades, some of which he had sourced directly from Mr Joyce, during his time in parliament — including as transport minister.

The revelations prompted the Coalition to push Mr Albanese to refer himself to the federal corruption watchdog, and called on him to answer questions about whether he acted “on behalf of Qantas” when his Government decided last year to block Qatar Airways bid for more flights

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher defended Mr Albanese on Thursday, saying he had declared all flights and “abided by the rules”.

“I know how fastidious he is about these rules. The reason we’re talking about them is because they’re declared,” she said.

Liberal senator James Paterson on Thursday morning reiterated the Coalition’s calls for Mr Albanese to refer himself to the National Anti-Corruption Commission “so this can be adequately investigated”.

He said he would support an inquiry looking at all politicians and their history of accepting flight upgrades.

“It’s clear from the evidence on the public record that no one has engaged in the same behaviour that the Prime Minister has,” he said.

“He’s the one with questions to answer, and any attempt to deflect from that is just an attempt to distract the Australian people from his own poor and questionable conduct.”