We have watched for the past week, popcorn in hand, as federal politicians have accused and excused wine upgrades with Qantas and why their arses shine the leather in the Chairman’s Lounge. This is the same week the final report into the federal government’s response to the covid pandemic showed that politicians sent the nation under the bed for dishonest reasons.
The loss of trust in government and in ‘the science’ is obvious. But the irreparable harm to defence and security is yet to be recognised. It is these two affairs, one risible and the other repugnant, which reveals the moral distance between the citizens and our privileged classes is little different to that in China.
That some politicians want to allow wine upgrades for work, while barring it for pleasure, confirms that we need an overhaul of our political classes. If politicians and bureaucrats need roomier seats on flights to accommodate their egos, this should come from the public purse. And if they need quiet places to meet others or work, government facilities should be provided at major airports.
Transparency is required because trust is lacking in them. This brings me to the Lying Kangaroo. It seems that under the previous chairman, Qantas diversified into introduction services and political lobbying in its seedy salons. I would have described the Chairman’s Lounge as a form of public-listed brothel, but I have more respect for madams and prostitutes.
As a review of travel rules will come of this sordid affair, which is the typical response when vice is discovered, we should be reviewing fringe benefits and lobbying rules, too. After all, how is the Chairman’s Lounge not like an 1980s massage parlour? Corruption invoices in this country. And for some, it comes with a happy ending with a white car expected. But enough of these champagnes and trysts!
We want to see the telltale lipstick on the shirt collar of our bureaucrats and politicians.
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Revelations of politicians soliciting free Qantas upgrades have sparked fury at the top end of town as executives are routinely pushed out of the exclusive Chairman’s Lounge for spending less than $1m a year on travel with the airline.
And as the government reels from a week dominated by questions about the Prime Minister’s dealings with former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Labor MPs now increasingly believe an iron-clad ban on aeroplane upgrades for personal travel is needed to move past the affair.
https://lnkd.in/gaK66CuS
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‘Trust is easily lost; it’s hard to regain – this is going to be a long, hard process.” With these words the federal Health Minister identified this week the enduring negative from Australia’s largely successful navigation of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
In truth, this is the report on how the nation managed Covid when you don’t really want the report. A federal government that lacks the honesty and courage to properly assess what happened. It is beyond pathetic.
https://lnkd.in/ggi_2xQT
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