ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has defended asking Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart for free flights, explaining to The Advocate that people shouldn’t be complaining because it didn’t cost the taxpayer anything.
Mr Dutton spoke to The Advocate briefly yesterday before making his way to a Liberal Party Halloween Party, where he was dressed as a “man of middle eastern appearance”.
After calling on the Prime Minister to refer himself to the federal anti-corruption watchdog over allegedly failing to disclose that he had sought and been offered free flight upgrades by Qantas when he was Transport Minister, Mr Dutton himself is resisting similar calls after it was revealed the Brisbanese businessman is a frequent flyer on Rinehart Airlines.
“Asking a great Australian for a free flight to offset the cost to the taxpayer is very different from asking an airline for free upgrades, which are paid by a private company. There’s no such thing as a free upgrade, someone always has to pay.
The Coalition has told the Australian public today, with regard to the free flights, that there is no ‘quid pro quo’ arrangement between them and the puce-faced, bloated creatures that harvest the nation’s shared mineral wealth for their own personal gain.
“They’re doing it out of the goodness of their own heart,” said Senator Bridget McKenzie, into a television camera with a straight face.
“Honestly. There is no arrangement. If Gina wants to offer the use of her plane, it’s because she’s a generous person. There’s not a conniving, nefarious bone in her body. Unless Alan Joyce, who played to Albo’s ego and turned him into a puppet.”
The Advocate reached out to our local member, David Littleproud, for comment.
“I don’t really care,” he said.
Nevertheless, almost every politician who’s chosen to join the pile on of Albanese over this latest pathetic pantomime controversy has been outed as being a recipient of flag carrier welfare at some point.
The smart ones have kept quiet.
More to come.
