A senior Labor frontbencher has defended Transport Minister Catherine King after it was revealed she had received a lifetime membership to Qantas’ platinum Frequent Flyer rewards tier.

The gift, which was quietly added to Ms King’s register of interests on Monday, comes less than two years after a number of MPs surrendered their Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership following public scrutiny.

Grilled about the gift on Tuesday, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said “as federal politicians, we travel an unbelievable amount”.

“Catherine King has been a Member of Parliament now for 25 years,” Ms O’Neil told Nine.

“She’s probably spent about a third of that time on the road somewhere.”

Pressed on whether it passed the pub test, however, Ms O’Neil said the gift was something “Qantas gives to people who are the most frequent flyers in the country”.

“And that’s how this has transpired,” she said.

“ … Catherine King’s probably been away from her family for a third of the last 25 years. And that’s kind of the extent of this.

“The important thing is that she got that interest. She made a declaration of it, and she’s been transparent about it.”

Liberal senator Michaelia Cash drew a similar line, telling Nine “federal politicians do do a lot of flying”.

“In particular, politicians who have been around a long time,” she said.

“There are rules in relation to our air travel that we need to comply with, and that certainly needs to be done.”

The platinum tier is the second highest tier in Qantas’s Frequent Flyer program, and would usually require 1400 “status credits”, or about 140 one-way flights between Sydney and Melbourne.

It includes perks such as access to domestic and international Qantas lounges and additional baggage, as well priority baggage, boarding, and seat access.

It also provides similar perks on partner airline flights, including Emirates.

In 2024, a number of MPs included independent Helen Haines and Community String Australia MP Allegra Spender returned memberships to VIP lounges provided by Qantas and Virgin over furore about politicians’ travel perks.

More recently, politicians have faced scrutiny over their use of taxpayer funded flights, including for so-called family reunions, prompting reform of entitlements.

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