Zali Steggall refuses to give up membership to Qantas Chairman’s Lounge as upgrade scandal continues to engulf Canberra

Zali Steggall has refused to give up her Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership, amid mounting political pressure as the flight upgrade scandal engulfs both sides of Parliament in Canberra and begins to creep into the crossbench.

Steggall, a teal independent member for Warringah in Sydney’s lower north shore, was questioned about perks for politicians during Hot Topics on Sunrise.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Zali Steggall says she will keep Chairman’s Lounge membership.

Her comments came after Minister for Education Jason Clare admitted on Sky News at the weekend he had requested and been given an upgrade on a private flight after being unable to answer the question when he was grilled by Nat Barr on Sunrise last Friday.

The firestorm started after former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston claimed in his new book The Chairman’s Longue: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had solicited and been given 22 free Qantas flight upgrades.

Albanese has rejected the allegations.

In the past few days, several of Stegall’s fellow teals, the independent member for Wentworth Allegra Spender, the WA independent Kate Chaney and Victorian independent Helen Haines have announced they would quit the VIP lounges.

Stegall joined journalist Joe Hildebrand on Tuesday, where she was questioned by host Monique Wright if she would also give up the perks on principle.

“Zali, would you do the same? Would you give back your Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership?” Wright asked.

“No, I still have it, and I don’t feel that it gets in the way of me being perfectly capable of criticising Qantas and the government or the opposition in how they’re dealing with airlines and making sure we have competition,” Steggall replied.

“Unfortunately, I feel this issue has become such a distraction to major issues we really should be talking about.

“Last week, we had the release of the state of the climate report, we have a disaster happening in Spain, I think we have really important issues we could be talking about and instead you’ve got a lot of politicians talking about themselves.”

But although Hildebrand stopped short of saying politicians should only fly economy, he noted it would be more akin to the experience of most Australians.

“I think politicians need to use their judgment and we wouldn’t be having these conversations,” Hildebrand said.

“But I think if every politician flew Jetstar and went through the indignity of having their carry-on measured and charged before they step on the plane, they would be more in touch with working Australia.

“(They’d also be) less preoccupied with things a lot of battlers don’t have the luxury to think about.”