Bridget McKenzie failed to declare a dozen flight upgrades
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The news: Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie has conceded she failed to declare 16 flight upgrades over more than a decade.
The Nationals senator announced last week that she was launching an audit of her flight history, after realising she had declared a free flight upgrade in 2018 – despite denying she had never received one.
McKenzie belatedly added the flights to her official register of interests on Wednesday, but insisted she “never sought free upgrades”. They include Virgin flights dating back to 2015, and multiple Qantas flights.
None of those flights took place while she held the transport portfolio.
The context: The revelations of McKenzie's flight upgrades followed allegations Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had an ongoing deal with Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce for free upgrades while he was transport minister and tasked with regulating the aviation sector.
Albanese says all flight upgrades he received have been lodged on his register of interests, and eventually denied he liaised with Joyce over them.
McKenzie had been one of Albanese’s most vociferous critics in the Coalition, which has called for the prime minister to refer himself to the anti-corruption watchdog.
After initially claiming she had never received a flight upgrade, she conceded last week that she should not have been “so emphatic” and committed to auditing her history.
Parliamentary rules require MPs and senators to declare any gift valued at $300 or above within 28 days of receiving them.
What they said: “I have never sought free upgrades, which has been affirmed by the airlines to the extent of their records … Deficiencies in disclosing these matters do not meet the expectations of the Australian people and the Parliament and were an oversight on my part, and for this I apologise,” McKenzie said in a statement.
The sources: Bridget McKenzie statement, The Guardian
