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The existence of an exclusive hideaway for the country's movers and shakers where secret deals were done in private <br> <br> luxury first exploded into the public eye <br> <br> back in 2007.<br> <br> <br> <br> Back then, the fact that Qantas spent hundreds of thousands of dollars wining and dining the nation's political elite in ultra-exclusive VIP lounges was relatively unknown.<br> <br> <br> <br> It was a time before Alan Joyce's tenure as the CEO of Qantas had even started, when he was <br> <br> boss of the comparatively lowly budget airline, Jetstar.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> And unlike Anthony Albanese's current slide in the polls leading up to an election in next year, the prospects <br> <br> back in 2007 were rosy for Labor. <br> <br> <br> <br> The election that was looming was the 'Kevin 07' landslide that would see <br> <br> Kevin Rudd become prime minister and John Howard lose <br> <br> his own seat. <br> <br> <br> <br> The issue which blew open the 'guilty secret' of the Chairman's Lounge then wasn't about a prime minister's privileges, although John Howard and <br> <br> Kevin Rudd were certainly both members during their terms <br> <br> as PM. <br> <br> <br> <br> But when broadcaster Steve Price - himself a long <br> <br> time Chairman's Lounge member - revealed a politically charged remark made within the club's hallowed walls, the <br> <br> cat was out of the bag.<br> <br> <br> <br> The political revelation - a comment by ex-rock star turned senator Peter Garrett <br> <br> that Labor would change the policies it campaigned <br> <br> on if it won government - did not deter his party <br> <br> from romping in on election day.<br> <br> <br> <br> In contrast, the scandal currently engulfing Anthony Albanese about his Chairman's Lounge membership and that of his <br> <br> ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt, and their son Nathan could bring down the prime minister.   <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The exclusive Qantas Chairman's Lounge (above) has been a well-kept secret for years, but it <br> <br> exploded into the public conscience in 2007 as the result of a <br> <br> political furore<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Broadcaster Steve Price revealed he had been a Chairman's <br> <br> Lounge member since 2002 during a row before the 2007 election won by <br> <br> Kevin Rudd which let the cat out of the bag about the VIP club<br> <br> <br> <br> The existence of the lounge was so little known back in 2007 that <br> <br> in defending his disclosure of Garrett's remark, <br> <br> Steve Price had to explain what the private enclave actually was.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In a first person piece he wrote: 'The Chairman's Lounge is a separate frequent flyers <br> <br> lounge away from the crowded normal Qantas Club. <br> <br> <br> <br> 'As its name implies, the people given access to it are approved by the Qantas chairman, Margaret <br> <br> Jackson. <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>'I have been a Chairman's Lounge member since 2002.'</b><br> <br> <br> <br> In his opinion piece, Price also revealed TV entertainment reporter Richard <br> <br> Wilkins was also a member of lounge.<br> <br> <br> <br> Wilkins had also been inside at the time and was his only witness <br> <br> to the remark Price said Garrett had made.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Other prominent media figures, such as 60 Minutes reporters, actors and performers, <br> <br> and well-known writers and sports people are said to be among the lounge's exclusive membership of around 6000.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Price went on to defend himself for reporting what some claimed was a confidential conversation in a private place,<br> <br> but which exposed him to criticism over his own membership for allegedly promoting Qantas on his radio show.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Back in 2007, Alan Joyce (left) was boss of the comparatively lowly budget airline Jetstar, and <br> <br> then Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon (right) had the power over <br> <br> who made the cut to the Chairman's Lounge<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> One observer has described the relationship bet6ween leading politicians such <br> <br> as PM Anthony Albanese and the former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (above) as <br> <br> 'alarmingly cosy'<br> <br> <br> <br> 'Why on earth is Qantas giving a controversial shock jock membership of its Chairman's Lounge, <br> <br> which is supposedly to enable our elite politicians and business leaders some <br> <br> privacy from the hoi polloi?' demanded Crikey reporter Stephen Mayne at the time.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 'The Chairman's Lounge is meant to be all about discretion and confidentiality,' <br> <br> he said, accusing Price of breaking 'a confidence'.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The following year, before he was succeeded as Qantas CEO by Alan Joyce,<br> <br> Geoff Dixon was the sole gatekeeper of entry into the club's hushed confines.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Qantas Chairman's Lounge membership was 'so exclusive that you have to be personally invited by <br> <br> the airline's chieftain', Nine newspapers reported in 2008.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 'A marvellous benefit of lounge membership is that the mega rich and powerful avoid having to mingle with the riffraff who will be travelling cattle <br> <br> class.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>'Having said that, members of the ultra-exclusive club have included Pauline Hanson.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> 'Another lounge member is Brad Cooper, who is currently enjoying a prolonged exposure <br> <br> to cattle-class in Kirkconnell Correctional Centre.' (Cooper was the former HIH insurance executive jailed for <br> <br> eight years on fraud and bribery offences).<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Membership of the elite lounge is confined to about 6000 Australians including politicians from both sides, <br> <br> senior public servants, TV stars and actors<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The 'scandal' currently engulfing Anthony Albanese <br> <br> about his Chairman's Lounge membership and that of his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt, and their son Nathan could bring down the <br> <br> prime minister (above the PM with partner Jodie Haydon and ex-Qantas <br> <br> CEO Alan Joyce)<br> <br> <br> <br> The report noted that politicians declaring membership of the lounge 'which <br> <br> most of their spouses got too' in their pecuniary interests that year included Liberal <br> <br> MPs of the day, Philip Ruddock, Bob Baldwin and Andrew Southcott.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Labor MPs with lounge privileges included Tanya Plibersek, Bob McMullan, and Sharon Grierson, and Martin Ferguson declared <br> <br> a bottle of Grange hermitage as a gift from Qantas,<br> <br> as did Liberal, Christopher Pyne.<br> <br> <br> <br> Asked if all MPs got the captain's pick from Geoff Dixon, <br> <br> the airline's spokesperson  told Nine: 'We like to retain a bit of mystery. Membership is by invitation only and it <br> <br> is reviewed periodically.'<br> <br> <br> <br> Fast forward to today, and nearly every single federal <br> <br> politician in the country has accepted free membership of the controversial, <br> <br> invitation-only lounge with one even describing it as an 'entitlement'. <br> <br> <br> <br> Qantas and the Albanese government recently denied the 'very, <br> <br> very high-end perk' gives the airline a disproportionate <br> <br> level of influence over the country's politicians.<br> <br> <br> <br> They were commenting ahead of the launch of the new book The Chairman's <br> <br> Lounge by former Australian Financial Review columnist <br> <br> Joe Aston, which has stirred up the controversy. <br> <br> <br> <br> A Daily Mail Australia audit of the members' interest <br> <br> registers - in both Federal Parliament's House of Representatives and the Senate - revealed <br> <br> almost 93 per cent of the nation's leaders have been 'gifted' membership to the lavish, all-inclusive <br> <br> lounge.<br> <br> <br> <br> Mr Albanese has defended himself by saying he declared all his benefits in pecuniary interest <br> <br> statements. <br> <br> <br> <br> At a press conference this week, he repeated that all of his upgrades 'have been declared <br> <br> as appropriate. What's appropriate is transparency.'  <br> <br> <br> <br> Apart from the PM, members include every one of his 22-person Cabinet, his seven-person Outer <br> <br> Ministry and all 12 assistant ministers.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> PM Anthony Albanese and every member of his 22-person Cabinet, his seven-person Outer Ministry and all 12 assistant ministers are members of the exclusive Chairman's Lounge<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Entry to the country's six opulent VIP clubs are suitably discreet, but once inside, the designer lounges offer free à la carte fine dining,<br> <br> table service and a discreet army of dedicated lounge attendants<br> <br> <br> <br> On the Coalition side of parliament, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, <br> <br> deputy leader David Littleproud and former deputy Barnaby Joyce <br> <br> are also among the swathes of politicians who have disclosed they have taken up free membership to the contentious club.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <u>Bill Shorten is a member, Tanya Plibersek is still a member and <br> <br> so is Teal MP, Zali Steggall.</u><br> <br> <br> <br> Last year it was reported that Australian Competition and <br> <br> Consumer Commission chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb and Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Joe Longo <br> <br> and some of their deputies are members of the Chairman's Lounge despite <br> <br> regulating the airline. <br> <br> <br> <br> Senior public servants in the club included <br> <br> Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Glyn Davis, deputy secretaries Nadine Williams,<br> <br> Liz Hefren-Webb, Rachel Bacon and ambassador to Beijing, <br> <br> Scott Dewar.<br> <br> <br> <br> Other Qantas freebies bestowed on members include numerous business class flight upgrades, model Qantas aircrafts,<br> <br> frequent flyer points, and tickets to sporting and entertainment events. <br> <br> <br> <br> Touted as 'the most exclusive club in the country', membership to the Chairman's Lounge is still veiled in secrecy.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The new book The Chairman's Lounge by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston (above) has <br> <br> stirred up the controversy <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb and Australian Securities <br> <br> and Investments Commission chairman Joe Longo are members despite regulating the airline<br> <br> <br> <br> Even the entrances to each of the country's six opulent VIP clubs - in Sydney, <br> <br> Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth airports - are suitably discreet.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Once inside, however, the designer lounges are noticeably luxurious, <br> <br> with free à la carte fine dining, table service, a decadent selection of wines and Champagne and a discreet <br> <br> army of dedicated lounge attendants.<br> <br> <br> <br> <strong><u>Virgin Airlines has its own version of the VIP enclave, the 'Beyond' lounge. </u></strong><br> <br> <br> <br> Only a handful of federal politicians have relinquished their <br> <br> membership to the Qantas Chairman's Lounge in the wake of the furore.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The select few to take a principled stand on the issue include South Australian senator <br> <br> Barbara Pocock and former Wallabies star turned ACT senator <br> <br> David Pocock, along with MPs Stephen Bates, Queensland Green Elizabeth Watson-Brown, and Monique Ryan, a Teal from <br> <br> Victoria.<br> <br> <br> <br> Geoffrey Watson SC, a former counsel assisting the Independent Commission Against <br> <br> Corruption and a director of the Centre for Public Integrity,<br> <br> has implored all politicians and policymakers to follow suit.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>'There are certain positions in life where you cannot take Chairman's Club membership,' <br> <br> he said.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> 'You're taking public money for the job and you are supposed to represent the <br> <br> public. Why not sit with them while you're waiting for a plane?'<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> QantasAnthony Albanese<br> <br> <br> <br> Here is my blog - <a href="http://jintbbs.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=70570">ขาย wine</a>
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