More than half of Australian voters believe Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government gave preferential treatment to Qantas over Qatar Airways.
A new RedBridge poll found Mr Albanese’s acceptance of 22 flight upgrades from Qantas since 2009 has cost him the support of many Labor voters.
The data showed a 50/50 split on two-party preferred terms at the next federal election, likely to take place in May 2025.
With inflation and the rising cost of living set to be massive features of the election, voters were disappointed to see Qatar Airways prevented from expanding in the Australian market – a move that could have lowered airfares.
In July 2023, Transport Minister Catherine King barred Qatar from running more services in and out of Australia.
She argued the expansion was ‘not in the national interest’, despite research which indicated increased competition would make flying cheaper.
Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Allan Fels slammed the move and said: ‘There’s no secret reason for it. It’s just looking after Qantas.’
RedBridge director Kos Samaras said negative feelings were worsened following news of the freebies Mr Albanese has received from Qantas, with critics concerned about a personal conflict of interest.
More than half of Australian voters believe Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government gave preferential treatment to Qantas over Qatar Airways (pictured, Jodie Haydon, Alan Joyce and Anthony Albanese)
The claims Mr Albanese personally requested flight upgrades from former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce were aired in Joe Aston’s book The Chairman’s Lounge.
It was also revealed Mr Albanese’s son, Nathan, and fiancée, Jodie Haydon, are both ‘plus one’ members of the airline’s exclusive Chairman’s Lounge.
Politicians from all sides regularly receive free perks from Qantas, but Opposition leader Peter Dutton claimed the difference is Mr Albanese personally contacted Mr Joyce for upgrades, which the prime minister denies.
The polling found 61 per cent of voters believed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese showed Qantas preferential treatment over Qatar Airways.
That included 46 per cent who planned to vote for Labor and 76 per cent supporting the Coalition.
Only 11 per cent of voters believed the Albanese Government didn’t show Qantas preferential treatment by allowing it to keep its dominant market position.
The remaining 28 per cent said they were unsure.
‘That’s fundamentally the problem, the perception that the reason why Qatar Airlines was turned down was because Qantas is handing out all these freebies to politicians,’ Mr Samaras told the Courier Mail.
Voters were disappointed to see Qatar Airways prevented from expanding and threatening Qantas’ dominance over the Australian market – a move that could have lowered airfares
The polling found 61 per cent of voters believed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese showed Qantas preferential treatment over Qatar Airways (pictured, Mr Albanese and Mr Joyce)
‘So they [government] don’t actually introduce any competition, which then hurts the consumer.
‘That positions politicians as a group of individuals separated from the lived experience of Australians.’
RedBridge found 56 per cent of Labor’s primary vote was soft on their stance, compared to 31 per cent for the Coalition and 52 per cent for the Greens.
An incredible 51 per cent of voters believed their standard of living would decrease in the next five years compared to 2020.
Coalition supporters had a worse outlook than Labor voters with 54 per cent expecting a drop in living standards compared to 40 per cent of Labor voters.
Greens voters floated between the two with 48 per cent preparing for their quality of living to drop.
