After a five-day whirlwind, the pressure is now on former AFR Rear Window columnist-turned-author Joe Aston to stack up his incendiary claim that Anthony Albanese contacted former Qantas head Alan Joyce to gain upgrades worth thousands of dollars for his private international travel.
Aston’s claim is hugely damaging to the prime minister. Aston has been happy to imply that Albanese is corrupt by overseeing airline policy while having a personal debt to Qantas — but then backs away from saying as much. He then continues to insist that Albanese has an “insatiable” desire for VIP treatment, comparing his action to a finance minister contacting a bank CEO for a $50,000 loan.
It has been an unsatisfying dance around the facts.
Under challenge, Aston has cited an anonymous Qantas source (just one?) or sources. The Politics is unwilling to question Aston’s claim simply because he previously worked for the Coalition — or has been pictured lunching with Peter Dutton — but it’s time for him and his publisher, Simon and Shuster, to provide further proof. Otherwise it all looks like a tawdry ploy for book sales — which happens to provide fodder for Albanese’s opponents.
By week’s end though, it had all become an exploding cigar for Rinehart Air’s Peter Dutton and perpetual trainwreck Senator Bridget McKenzie, who had their own secret travel deals.
This week in The Politics we have covered the Albanese-Qantas story and much more:
Labor’s electrifying chance to beat Greens to the left and the Coalition to the right
Its loss in Queensland at the weekend has plenty of federal implications for the ALP, but it’s not all bad news because there are bold and positive clues for next year’s campaign.
Albo’s class war goes sky high
Is the PM just another political grifter? Integrity can fly out the porthole in the few short steps between economy and business.
ARC de triomphe for nuke lovers of the world
One year ago, 16 Coalition politicians flew to London on a freebie junket to the inaugural gathering of the world’s ultra-conservatives and their fellow travellers on the libertarian fringe. It was a love fest of atomic proportions.
Attack, attack, attack: the hide of Peter Dutton
The opposition leader knows no shame and is driving Australian politics lower than it has ever been.
0 Comments