PETER VAN ONSELEN: Two reasons why Anthony Albanese should sack him now

In a downright pathetic attempt to distract his attention from his own problems, the Prime Minister played it safe today when he accused the Presidential Lounge writer of failing to disclose his past links to the Liberal Party.

Joe Aston’s book revealed Anthony Albanese’s penchant for calling former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to get free business class upgrades on personal flights. At least 22 times.

Aston had worked briefly for the Liberal Party a lifetime ago.

“I don’t see any indication that he is a former Liberal Party staffer,” Albanese said at a press conference today.

‘I see no statement that he is a former Qantas employee.’

In fact, Aston’s new book makes both statements in the first line of the first page and publishes the page as evidence, as the author points out on social media.

Aston also rightly described the Prime Minister as ‘beyond desperate’.

But this definition is not enough to condemn Albo’s attempt to direct his problems at the author who exposed them.

It’s mind-boggling that Albo can’t see what he’s doing wrong here. Instead, he goes on the offensive and digs himself an even deeper hole in the process, writes Peter van Onselen

Joe Aston’s book revealed Anthony Albanese’s penchant for calling former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to get free business class upgrades on personal flights. At least 22 times

It was wrong, it was dirty and shows how low the Prime Minister is willing to stoop when put under pressure.

Former radio presenter Neil Mitchell tweeted that the Prime Minister should apologize to Aston but of course he couldn’t.

If Albo is too stubborn to admit he wanted business class upgrades when the transport minister was wrong, he certainly won’t pick up the phone and apologize for his latest mistake.

Instead of thinking about his past behavior, the Prime Minister tried to shoot the messenger.

This was a downright pathetic attempt at diversion; Frankly, it was the kind of action you’d expect from someone who pesters an airline CEO for freebies despite a perceived conflict of interest.

Albanese did this while he was transport minister responsible for aviation, for God’s sake! He also did so when he was Labour’s shadow transport spokesman and when he was Leader of the Opposition.

Aston revealed that he had a brief stint as a staffer in the Liberal Party, despite having long established a high profile and successful career in journalism and skewering politicians on both sides of the main party divide.

No one can plausibly claim that Aston has taken a light touch on the Liberals since his return to journalism. Some of his harshest comments were directed at Scott Morrison, for example.

It’s mind-boggling that Albo can’t see what he’s doing wrong here. Instead, he goes on the offensive and digs an even deeper hole for himself in the process.

Perhaps the Prime Minister doesn’t think he can admit his past mistakes and is proposing reforms to ensure no one else does the same in the future. This underlines that he is the kind of person who needs strict rules to avoid doing the wrong thing, because otherwise his instincts will take him there.

I’m currently dreaming of becoming one of Albo’s spin doctors. Did one of them give him Aston’s attacking line? Or did that humiliating callus idea come up entirely on its own?

No first-term government has lost a re-election bid since 1931. To maintain this streak, Labor’s leading traders need to find a way to flush Albanese’s personal brand out of the toilet.

Make no mistake, that’s exactly where he is right now. Comments like those made about Aston do nothing but trash Albo’s brand.

I bet Team Albo is looking forward to next week’s US Presidential election to distract attention from this issue.

But the damage has been done and will not be easily forgotten.

Anthony Albanese pictured (right) with his friend, former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce

How do they sell a Prime Minister who has spent the last decade calling the CEO of Qantas to request a business class upgrade on personal flights?

It’s incomprehensible that he doesn’t think it’s wrong on any level to do this. Although when he did this he was the transport minister responsible for the aviation sector.

What Albo did was also likely a violation of the ministry’s code of conduct at the time.

Kevin Rudd set out the rules for his ministers in December 2007. It stated: ‘Ministers must discharge the functions of their public office without being influenced by considerations of personal interest.’

How does this square with Albo’s constant demands for flight upgrades when he was transport minister?

The rule continues: ‘Ministers may, within their official authority, accept customary official gifts, hospitality, tokens of appreciation and similar official gestures in accordance with relevant guidelines, but must not personally seek or encourage any gifts. capacity.”

It’s the last part about not seeking gifts in their personal capacity that suggests Albo is likely breaking the rules when requesting flight upgrades on personal holidays for himself and his family.

Although the Prime Minister claimed to have complied with disclosure requirements, we now know that he did not disclose the upgrades given to his wife at the time as required by the rules.

Albo is now hindering Labor’s chances of winning the next election. Simply put, the government’s chances of winning will increase if he fires himself and retires to the $4.3 million waterfront mansion he recently purchased.

But Albo won’t do that. Even when he retires, he will be entitled to a special gold travel card, part of the generous old-fashioned parliamentary pension scheme that will guarantee him a set number of business class flights each year.

And he won’t even have to shamelessly embarrass himself by calling the CEO every time he wants to ask (beg?) for a free business class flight.