Australia news LIVE: PM rules out calling Joyce for Qantas upgrades; Woolworths to face shareholder showdown

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expanded on his denial of reports he requested Qantas flight upgrades from former chief Alan Joyce, telling Sydney’s 2GB radio that he also did not text or email Joyce asking for an upgrade, nor did he seek upgrades from anyone else at Qantas.

On air this morning, host Ben Fordham said he was in contact with Albanese last night to “fill in some of the gaps in his statement”. Fordham read out the following exchange on air.

Fordham: Did you ever text Alan Joyce about flight upgrades?

Albanese: No.

Fordham: Did you ever email Alan Joyce about flight upgrades?

Albanese: No.

Fordham: Did you ever share with Alan Joyce any flights or travel plans without specifically asking for an upgrade?

Albanese: No.

Fordham: Was there someone else at Qantas you were seeking upgrades from or sharing your travel plans with?

Albanese: No.

Fordham continued that the PM said he’d “just book the economy flights and get an upgrade to the front of the plane, and he wasn’t asking for anything”.

Asked why he waited so long to respond to the allegations in Joe Aston’s book, the PM told Fordham it “had taken a number of days to go through all of his records”.

Fordham said the PM had checked his history of text messages and emails with Joyce to confirm there was no conversation about upgrades, with the record going back “several decades”.

“The PM says he didn’t want to come out earlier in the week and issue a complete denial in case he’d missed something. That’s why he ordered an internal audit of his records,” Fordham says.

Fordham concluded with this direct quote from the PM:

“Over 30 years, there could have been a mistake, but we’ve gone through the records and there are none.”

Embattled supermarket giant Woolworths will face questions over dodgy discount schemes, price gouging and environmentally dubious farming practices at its yearly shareholder grilling.

The annual general meeting on Thursday will be the first for new chief executive Amanda Bardwell after her predecessor, Brad Banducci, resigned in February after a scathing senate inquiry report criticising pricing practices of Woolworths and rival Coles.

It has been a damaging year for the reputation of the big two chains, who dominate 67 per cent of the supermarket sector, with Aldi next behind at just nine per cent.

The competition watchdog launched legal action against Coles and Woolworths in September, accusing them of violating consumer law by misleading shoppers on hundreds of popular supermarket items with their “Down Down” and “Prices Dropped” campaigns.

Woolworths has been in the firing line of 10 government inquiries, with Labor accusing the chains of buying land to stop competitors setting up shop and hiking prices for less product value.

The grocery chain revealed on Wednesday profits had taken a hit, with the company likely to make $1.48 billion in the December half, down from $1.6 billion a year earlier.

The supermarket chain says many compounding factors have contributed to the challenging year faced by the sector.

“Consumers are increasingly feeling pressured, largely due to the increase in rents and mortgages … this has led to increased media and political focus on the grocery business,” the company said in a pre-AGM statement.

“Polarisation in community expectations on the role of business in social issues are also playing out.”

AAP

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has backed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s attempts to shut down the Qantas flight upgrade furore by denying he ever called former chief Alan Joyce to arrange flight upgrades.

Asked about soliciting upgrade claims published in a new book, The Chairman’s Lounge, written by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston, Gallagher repeated the PM’s denial.

“That isn’t the case”, she told ABC News Breakfast.

“The PM has answered a lot of questions about this in the last few days,” Gallagher said.

“Any arrangement for changes to flights were made in the normal way, as occurs with many MPs, or all MPs across the parliament.”

Gallagher was asked if she could clarify if the prime minister had contacted Joyce about flight upgrades by any means other than phone calls.

“I think that the PM has also been clear about the conversations that he has had with Alan Joyce in the press conference that he did. It wasn’t about those matters that you raise.”

She continued her defence of the PM:

The PM has been very transparent. I work closely with him. I know how seriously he takes his responsibilities to the parliament.

These are around matters that happened over the last two decades. And the reason we’re talking about them is because they are declared. They’re declared on his register, as they should be, as per the rules.”

Gallagher also accused the Coalition of hypocrisy, pointing to a story in the Australian Financial Review that claims Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, one of the PM’s harshest critics on the issue, is reviewing her own flight record.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has moved to quell a political storm over his personal integrity by declaring he never called former Qantas chief Alan Joyce to ask for flight upgrades, issuing the statement late on Wednesday after days of questions about the private benefits.

The move came as cabinet ministers pledged “completely solid” support for Albanese and insisted he did no favours for the airline, amid signs of anxiety in the Labor caucus about the damage to the government when it goes to the next election.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister responded to that demand late on Wednesday by issuing a statement that ruled out any calls to Joyce.

“The prime minister did not ever call Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade,” the spokeswoman said.

“All travel has been appropriately declared and is a matter of public record.”

The statement came after days of work inside the prime minister’s office to check travel and office records over more than a decade, but the prime minister’s office did not elaborate on whether the statement included texts and emails.

Read the full story here.

Welcome to the national news blog from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. My name is Josefine Ganko, and I’ll be at the helm of our live coverage through the morning.

It’s Thursday, October 31.

Here’s what’s making news this morning.

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has moved to quell a political storm over his personal integrity by declaring he never called former Qantas chief Alan Joyce to ask for flight upgrades.
• Australia’s average temperatures have risen by 1.5 degrees for the first time since records began, a sobering new assessment from the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology reveals.
• Overseas, at least 72 people have been killed in the deadliest flooding to hit Spain for three decades after torrential rain battered the eastern region of Valencia.
• In the dying days of the US presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris has distanced herself from Joe Biden after the president appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage”, in a damaging gaffe that has undercut her message of unity.