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That afternoon, Qantas advised the Senate committee and the media that its total outstanding balance of COVID credits – including Jetstar and foreign customers – was $570 million, a lazy $200 million more than the number Joyce had been using publicly, and $50 million higher than even its admissions in the Senate hearing.5 The furore ratcheted up another several notches. ‘CON AIR’ screamed the next morning’s Daily Telegraph. ‘The Lying Kangaroo’ roared Melbourne’s Herald Sun. There was now a gigantic snowball rolling downhill in Alan Joyce’s direction, and sprinting away from the impact radius were Anthony Albanese and his senior ministers. Jim Chalmers called the ACCC’s allegations ‘deeply concerning’, while the PM was at pains to remind everyone, ‘Something I called for in recent days was [for] Qantas… to not have those credits expire.’ But distance between them couldn’t suddenly be manufactured. The Qatar decision, the Voice launch, the Chairman’s Lounge affair, defunding the ACCC’s airline monitoring, its steadfast inaction on slot hoarding: the perception firmly prevailed that the government was in Joyce’s pocket.
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