As I’ve written many times, unleashing the dogs of political scandal is a risky business. Just as often, once they’ve savaged your enemy, they’ll turn on you, too. The sense that the Qantas Upgrades scandal that’s been hammering Anthony Albanese would come back to bite the opposition has come to fruition.
Bridget McKenzie – who was the Coalition’s chief attack dog against Anthony Albanese over the Qantas flight upgrades saga – is preparing to disclose more than a dozen of her own upgrades.
In what will be an embarrassing admission, the Australian understands the upgrades are due to be made public soon after Senator McKenzie declared last Monday she had never sought nor received flight upgrades from Qantas.
If you’re going to loose the hounds, best to make sure there’s no dog treats in your pockets, first.
In 1997, the ‘Travel Rorts’ scandal claimed the scalps of three Howard government ministers – and then turned on the ALP opposition. In the end, it took an attempted suicide by a Labor MP to bring the opposition to their senses. In 2009, then-opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull tried to weaponise the ‘Utegate’ scandal against new PM Kevin Rudd – until it all blew up in his face.
More recently, Anthony Albanese and the ALP in opposition gleefully exploited the Bruce Lehrmann/Brittany Higgins scandal to belt the Morrison government. It’s fast become a millstone around their own necks: if Linda Reynolds’ defamation action succeeds, and a corruption investigation into Higgins’ multi-million-dollar payout goes ahead, it’ll be dynamite in an election year.
The Dutton opposition has had a week of bruising success against Anthony Albanese over his constant stream of luxury perks from Qantas, both as a transport minister making decisions that hugely benefited the airline and as PM. But always lurking in the background was the risk of the dogs biting their own hands.
Peter Dutton has played it safe, coming up front about what upgrades he’s ever received. It looks, though, as if McKenzie wasn’t nearly as smart.
The opposition transport spokeswoman was forced to conduct an audit after her parliamentary register showed a Qantas upgrade in 2018.
She wrote to Qantas, Virgin and Rex last Wednesday asking to provide her with a full history of upgrades and flights she may have been in receipt of since she entered parliament in 2011 and had heard back from all three airlines as of Tuesday night.
It is unclear if any of the upgrades were solicited or whether any were gifted while she has been opposition transport spokeswoman.
This isn’t the first time McKenzie has been bitten on the arse by scandal.
Senator McKenzie, who is also the Nationals’ Senate leader and has been opposition transport spokeswoman since June 2022, resigned from cabinet in 2020 in the wake of the sports rorts scandal.
She was found to have breached ministerial standards after it was revealed a clay target club she was a member of received a grant of $36,000 under a government grants program she was responsible for.
Her colleagues are manfully going into bat for her.
Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said if Senator McKenzie had made an error, it should be corrected.
“Any upgrade, like any benefit given to a politician needs to be declared. They’re the rules,” Mr Taylor told ABC radio.
“The real issue here is this: we have a Prime Minister who, when transport minister … is alleged to have actively reached out and lobbied for personal upgrades. That’s inappropriate. There is no question that is inappropriate. Other upgrades that are given by an airline in different circumstances, they should be declared, and I’m sure that will be worked through.”
Ultimately, of course, there’s a huge difference of responsibility between a prime minister and a minister. But the expectations of a minister are still pretty high.
Once might be a coincidence. If McKenzie survives a second scandal, she should count her lucky stars.
