Federal Transport Minister King Earns lifetime QF Platinum membership

[jakob]

Absolutely agree. SCs should be earned through flying only. Stop this nonsense and lower the lifetime WP threshold.

Transport minister given free Qantas platinum status for life

Catherine King accepted the airline’s top-tier membership, which gives the federal cabinet minister privileges and freebies until the day she dies.

www.afr.com

Much lower threshold for some! (paywalled and maybe the article is different to headline)

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Transport minister given free Qantas platinum status for life

Catherine King accepted the airline’s top-tier membership, which gives the federal cabinet minister privileges and freebies until the day she dies.

www.afr.com

Much lower threshold for some! (paywalled and maybe the article is different to headline)

Pathetic. Do other countries allow this?

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Transport minister given free Qantas platinum status for life

Catherine King accepted the airline’s top-tier membership, which gives the federal cabinet minister privileges and freebies until the day she dies.

www.afr.com

Much lower threshold for some! (paywalled and maybe the article is different to headline)

The government has passed a lot of legislation recently to regulate campaign donations.
An important reform to avoid AU becoming like the US, where the government can be bought - and has been.
Musk has boasted of how he bought Trump a second term, and AIPAC is busy buying members of congress on behalf of a foreign state.
However the danger to democracy in AU comes from lobbyists and soft influence like this.
It's not unique to Labor - they just happen to be in Government right now.

 

[transpactraveller]

Much lower threshold for some! (paywalled and maybe the article is different to headline)

Not much more in the article, though I did roll my eyes at the AFR using the term "points-maxxers" instead of frequent flyers.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Not much more in the article, though it appears we're now called "points-maxxers" by the AFR

Points-maxxers?
I have over 650,000 at the moment and no idea what to do with them.
identify much more as an "SC-Maxxer".

 

[sudoer]

Transport minister given free Qantas platinum status for life

Catherine King accepted the airline’s top-tier membership, which gives the federal cabinet minister privileges and freebies until the day she dies.

www.afr.com

Much lower threshold for some! (paywalled and maybe the article is different to headline)

"All future status credits earn a 100 per cent bonus." lol

 

[CaptJCool]

Not much more in the article, though I did roll my eyes at the AFR using the term "points-maxxers" to describe AFFers.

She’s been in the Fed Larkiament since 2001 so blame the Ballarat voters for her longevity and this inevitable SC earn for LTP
JUST LIKE Albo and Penny

Or is this complimentary membership ?

 

[arrow]

She’s been in the Fed Larkiament since 2001 so blame the Ballarat voters for her longevity and this inevitable SC earn for LTP
JUST LIKE Albo and Penny

Or is this complimentary membership ?

I would be surprised if it’s due to flying. As a lowly opposition member for 15 / 25 years.

Wong and Albanese had decent stints in roles which required international travel.

It would be pretty hard to make LTP solely on domestic travel

 

[Cloud9]

Hang about - no status earn on Commonwealth business, I thought?

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Hang about - no status earn on Commonwealth business, I thought?

I thought it was no points.

 

[Blackadder]

I thought it was no points.

Yes can earn SCs, not points since 2010.

 

[Cloud9]

Ah. TIL.

 

[Melburnian1]

From 'The Age':

Transport minister accepts lifetime membership to Qantas platinum​

Transport Minister Catherine King has accepted a lifetime membership to Qantas’ platinum frequent flyer rewards tier less than two years after MPs ceremonially handed over their membership to the airline’s VIP lounge following public backlash.
The minister, whose responsibilities include aviation and the courting of airlines to make use of the new Western Sydney International Airport, quietly updated her register of interests on Monday to reflect the gift she received from the airline.

The airline’s second-highest tier, behind platinum one, offers free access to first and business class lounges across the globe, additional baggage allowance, priority check-in, boarding and baggage access. It also offers priority upgrades and seat selection.
A Qantas frequent flyer would need to accrue 1400 status credits in a year to qualify for the platinum tier. A discount economy ticket between Sydney and Melbourne garners 10 points, meaning a traveller would need to fly between the capitals 140 times to reach the tier.
A lifetime membership to the tier requires 75,000 status credits, or 7500 Sydney to Melbourne flights.

 

[sudoer]

In case it's unclear to anyone from the hit piece headline - she got there by flying the 75k SC. IMO that's very different to Qantas just deciding to gift LTP to the transport minister for no reason.

Did King garner this spectacular number of status credits by catching 25 years of Qantas flights as the Labor MP for Ballarat? Or had the airline just handed the lifetime platinum card to her? A spokeswoman for King said it was the former; the minister had just flown that often with the airline. Why didn’t she just say no?l

 

[MELso]

If she achieved 75,000 SCs from BIS flying, this seems a wee bit sensationalised...

 

[drron]

A fair bit of conflict of interest. Not a good look and won't pass the pub test.

 

[Melburnian1]

If she achieved 75,000 SCs from BIS flying, this seems a wee bit sensationalised...

But if she has, this has (almost) all been on the public purse at a time when many Australians are under financial stress.

Not a good look by any means.

It runs the risk of compromising her decision making.

For instance, high speed rail is continually improving in technology and speed, yet unlike much of Europe and Asia, we continue to lack the comfort, speed, reliability and punctuality of HSR (although minor funding has been allocated for initial works between Sydney and Newcastle).

The airlines want to protect revenue from 'the golden triangle', so guess what they (in private) lobby against?

 

[craney]

Back of the envelope...

She's been an MP for 25 years, so that's something like 40 return MEL-CBR flights per year, without taking into account travelling nationally (frequently) or internationally (occasionally) as a minister.

40 weeks x 80 SC x 25 years = 80,000 SC

So yes, she'd have easily accrued 76,000 SC

Status credits accrue to parliamentarians and public servants (as opposed to frequent flyer points, which are not earned on government travel).

 

[craney]

The minister's office has said that the status us a function of the extent of travel, as it would be for anyone else accruing 76,000 SCs

SMH: "A spokeswoman for King told the Australian Financial Review – who first reported the gift – that the minister received the status by virtue of the extent to which she has travelled with the airline."

 

[MELso]

Back of the envelope...

She's been an MP for 25 years, so that's something like 40 return MEL-CBR flights per year, without taking into account travelling nationally (frequently) or internationally (occasionally) as a minister.

40 weeks x 80 SC x 25 years = 80,000 SC

So yes, she'd have easily accrued 76,000 SC

Status credits accrue to parliamentarians and public servants (as opposed to frequent flyer points, which are not earned on government travel).

Yup (and this is borne out by the statements from the Minister's office).

Next for the chopping block I'm guessing is SCs for federal government travel, but until this occurs, this is within the rules, whether or not people agree with them.