So out of a 2 year period, a group of 226 people (who do actually fly frequently, when parli is sitting they would fly in/out of cbr at least once every 2 weeks) had 289 op-ups amoungst them.
That gives an average of a little over 1 upgrade per person over the two year period (yes I realise some have been more lucky in their upgrade rate than others). I'm also pretty sure that AFF as a group would have a higher op-up rate than that.
If op-ups where something dodgy reserved for pollies, which us mear mortals cold never hope to receive, then yes it's a news story. But since all an op-up represents is that a pax needs to be moved around the plane for operational reasons, I can't see why this is news.