The incoming Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, and outgoing chair of the Productivity Commission, Michael Brennan, are members of Qantas’s high-end Chairman’s Lounge – an invitation-only perk a top public integrity expert says officials should turn down.
The memberships, contained in the gifts and benefits registers of the agencies, show how the airline has used its soft diplomacy to build relationships in Australia’s most important institutions, including the competition and corporate regulators and aviation safety authority.
Guardian Australia does not suggest any of the agencies, including the RBA and Productivity Commission, have any conflict of interest.
The RBA confirmed Bullock and the outgoing governor, Philip Lowe, are recipients of Qantas lounge memberships.
The Productivity Commission, which advises the government on economic settings, was contacted for comment. It discloses the Chairman’s Lounge membership in its register, while other commission staff receive complimentary access to the less luxurious Qantas Club.
Issues around lounge membership have been ignited by broader questions over whether Qantas enjoys outsized influence over political decision-makers in Australia – an allegation the airline and the Albanese government deny.
The government has come under pressure over its recent refusal of expanded air rights to rival carrier Qatar Airways at a time when more competition could help lower air fares.
Known as the most exclusive club in Australia, memberships to the Chairman’s Lounge are infamously confidential and the entrances are often inconspicuous in otherwise busy airports.
Geoffrey Watson SC, a former counsel assisting the Independent Commission Against Corruption and a director of the Centre for Public Integrity, said politicians and policymakers should turn memberships down.
“There are certain positions in life where you cannot take Chairman’s Club membership,” said Watson.
He said those involved in public roles could benefit from sitting with the people they represent.
“You’re taking public money for the job and you are supposed to represent the public. Why not sit with them while you’re waiting for a plane?”
Watson said Chairman’s Lounge membership also posed a potential problem if officials or their families receive preferential flight upgrades.
“It actually can amount to thousands of dollars of advantage, in practical, real terms,” he said.
The national carrier has been subject to weeks of turmoil, marked by anger over its flight credits system and high cancellations rate. In the space of a few weeks, the airline went from posting a record $2.47bn profit to announcing the early retirement of its chief executive, Alan Joyce, shortly after the competition regulator took legal action over allegations Qantas sold tickets to more than 8,000 flights it had already cancelled.
Qantas also lost its high court bid on Wednesday to overturn a ruling that it illegally outsourced 1,700 ground handler jobs.
