Flying high: How politicians travel in style

The entrance can be hard to spot. Opaque glass, minimal or no signage. You've probably walked past a Qantas Chairman's Lounge without noticing it. But there's luxury on the other side of those sliding doors: fine dining, alcohol, private rooms for meetings, showers, massages and spas. Plus a host who will come and tell you when it's time to board your flight.

Most of us will never see inside the Chairman's Lounge as it’s an invite only club. Unlike the standard Qantas Lounge or Business Lounge, you can’t apply to get in. Nor will any number of frequent flyer points help.  Membership is the sole gift of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, who decides every two years who will or won't receive a black membership card. In addition to politicians, the lounge is inhabited by the c suite, sporting figures, media and entertainment personalities, and other big wigs. Members can bring guests. 

Virgin’s less prestigious version was The Club before the airline went into administration in 2020. It offered members free limousine transfers and the ability to book seats on full domestic and international flights, however all this is under threat with media reports The Club will undergo a ‘refresh’ involving fewer lounges and reduced benefits when it reopens this year. 

Who’s in, who’s out    

Open Politics understands from various insiders that pretty much all federal parliamentarians and their partners are offered complimentary membership of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge and Virgin’s The Club.

But you wouldn’t know it from the parliamentary interest registers. Leaving aside Senator Jacqui Lambie, whose membership of the Chairman’s Lounge was cancelled in spectacular circumstances last year, 72 of 227 pollies - 31% of the parliament - do not list Chairman's in their statements of registrable interests. Of these, 23 declared their membership of the lower rung Qantas Club and 49 listed no Qantas memberships at all. 

This is puzzling. We know former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was not a member because he didn't want to feel obligated to Qantas, so it's possible these 72 pollies have refused on principle too. Or maybe Alan's invitation never arrived in the mail. Another possibility is that they haven't declared Chairman’s because they do not believe membership of the top tier lounge qualifies as a registrable interest: an interest that may conflict, or may be seen to conflict, with their public duties. 

Seven cabinet ministers have not listed Chairman's in their interest statements, including Employment Minister Stuart Robert, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, Attorney General Michaelia Cash, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Andrew Gee, Families Minister Anne Ruston, and benched Education Minister Alan Tudge. 

On the Opposition side, five shadow cabinet ministers don’t appear to have a Qantas black entry card. This includes Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke, Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler, Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, and Shadow Special Minister of State Don Farrell. 

It’s hard to imagine Qantas would not have offered Chairman’s to these senior political players while giving it to Senator Alex Antic, Chair of the sleepy Joint Committee on Publications, or Andrew Laming, who's been a backbencher his entire 18 years in parliament. This means they either declined to join or have decided that public disclosure is not necessary.   

Only 68 pollies - 30% of the parliament - have declared membership of Virgin's The Club. However the true number could be higher as many disclosure statements are vaguely worded, only declaring membership of the far less fancy 'Virgin Club Lounge' - both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader use this formulation in their interest statements. Again, it’s unlikely Virgin didn’t offer Morrison and Albanese membership of The Club when so many of their junior colleagues are members.

Upgrades, Champagne and more

Access to a luxury departure lounge is just the beginning for our travelling politicians, with 34 declaring complimentary flight upgrades.  

At least four have received first class upgrades: Energy Minister Angus Taylor and Attorney General Michaelia Cash were bumped up from business to first class on Qantas flights to the US in 2020, while Labor Senator Catryna Bilyk and CLP Senator Sam McMahon flew at the pointy end from Doha to Melbourne with Qatar Airways in 2019. 

The Prime Minister has not received a first class upgrade, but he hardly needs it when he's on official business as he has his own private suite on the RAAF VIP A330 Airbus. Anyway, the PM didn't miss out entirely as he and family received business class upgrades from Qantas and Fiji Airways for their holiday to Fiji in June 2019. The same for the alternative prime minister Anthony Albanese, who was upgraded to Qantas business class for his flight home from Hawaii in October of the same year. 

As if exclusive lounges and upgrades were not enough, Qantas has provided six pollies with bottles of ‘Piper Heidsieck Rare Millesime 2002 Champagne’ valued at $275. Two MPs  - Anthony Albanese and former deputy PM Michael McCormack - even scored ‘Commemorative Qantas 747 Half Bar Carts’ valued at $974.70. It wasn’t clear to us what use someone would have for an aircraft bar cart, but the Qantas website helpfully explains that it allow you to "enjoy drinks' service at home . . . [and is stocked with] a range of Business Class items, including Champagne, mini bottles of red and white wine, Tim Tams, iconic Qantas pyjamas, an exclusive Qantas First Class Sheridan throw and more.” Good to know. 

Charter flights

Nev Power, former chair of the National COVID Commission and ex CEO of Fortescue Metals Group, appears to be using his Embraer 505 Business Jet to run an airline for Liberal politicians, with the interest registers showing he flew former attorney general Christian Porter and his WA colleague Ben Morton between Canberra and Perth on several occasions in 2020. Given the lack of direct flights between the two cities, this would’ve shaved at least an hour off Porter's and Morton's journeys. Power Air briefly operated a Canberra to Brisbane route the same year for Porter and Defence (against China) Minister Peter Dutton.  

Porter and co might have trouble getting a lift from Power in the near future as he was charged this month with breaching WA border restrictions by flying into the state in a helicopter without quarantining or filling out a border pass. If convicted, he could serve up to 12 months jail. 

In all, 11 parliamentarians have received complimentary charter flights this term of parliament. The gong for the least transparent disclosure goes to Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce for his declaration of a private charter flight from Armidale to Brisbane in May 2021 where he failed to disclose who paid for the flight or the purpose of the travel, as is required by the Members' Register. Alas, Barnaby is not Robinson Crusoe as almost no one else declared the purposes of their charter trips either.

Influence

The obvious question is why airlines and Nev Power provide concessional travel, hospitality, and gifts to parliamentarians but not the general population. In the case of Power, we don't know his motivations, but his charter flights got him hours of face time with two senior ministers and a confidant of the PM. Joe public would be lucky to get a meeting with a cabinet minister, and, even if they did, the discussion wouldn't go beyond 20 - 30 minutes before being cut short by a division bell or a pre-arranged phone call. While Power may only have been chatting about the weather and the footy while jetting Porter, Dutton, and Morton home, the flights create an appearance of favoured access to decision makers and influencers.   

Then there’s Qantas. Running the Chairman's Lounge and providing upgrades to business and first class would be an enormous expense, but in return Qantas would be hoping to get a more favourable political climate where governments and oppositions are not inclined to do anything that will hurt the airline’s commercial interests. At a minimum, the freebies buy Qantas political access, as MPs and senators are less likely to reject meeting requests from an organisation that makes their travels so pleasant.  

Finally we have Qatar Airways and Emirates providing first class and business upgrades to our junketeering pollies. While we don't believe politicians should accept upgrades from any airline - whether domestic or foreign - it's quite another step to receive them from airlines owned by governments with atrocious human rights records like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Further, Qatar Airways and Emirates have appalling records in their treatment of female cabin crews.

Before accepting the next upgrade, MPs and senators might like to consider the cost of this luxury and whether they are being used by the regimes as part of their soft power strategies to paper over human rights abuses. 

And as for accepting Chairman's from Qantas, politicians could follow Turnbull's lead and decline, and use their points to access a lower level lounge. Better yet, they could sit outside in general departure lounge and talk to the voting public. Just a thought.