Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie slams ABC presenter Patricia Karvelas over Gina Rinehart question

National Assembly senator Bridget McKenzie has delivered a stunning rebuke of ABC presenter Patricia Karvelas after she tried to accuse the opposition of colluding with Australia’s richest man by reminding her that a strong mining industry helps fund the national broadcaster.

An Opposition transport spokeswoman has defended leader Peter Dutton after it emerged his office asked mining giant Gina Rinehart to provide him with a free private jet to visit the memorial to the November 2022 Bali attacks.

“What does Gina Rinehart expect from such generosity?” Karvelas asked Ms McKenzie on her RN Breakfast show on Friday.

The Nationals senator rejected the idea that Ms Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, would expect a quid pro quo agreement.

Instead, she sought to slam the Prime Minister, who is facing damaging allegations that he repeatedly received Qantas upgrades.

“Peter Dutton received a flight that saved Australian taxpayers $40,000 at a work event commemorating the Bali bombing,” Ms McKenzie said.

“The Prime Minister may have sought – or not – flights for his family overseas while he was Transport Minister, protecting Qantas’ market share.”

But Karvelas continued her line of questioning, repeatedly asking whether Mrs. Rinehart expected anything in return.

A visibly upset Ms McKenzie interrupted the ABC presenter, saying: “Rinehart is not the problem” and suggesting it was just an attempt to create “clickbait”.

Ms McKenzie then noted that the Coalition has made no secret of its commitment to a “strong, prosperous and sustainable mining industry”.

“I can be very frank with you. The coalition is friends of our mining and resources industry,” she told Karvelas.

She added: “This is the basis of our strong economy. It’s the backbone of your public health system, and it funds our public education system and things like ABC.

“The great government institutions that all Australians can access are funded because we have such a successful resources industry.

“I don’t think we need Gina Rinehart to influence us to make it very, very clear as a coalition that we support a sustainable resource industry now, you know, and I think it’s important to state that.”

ABC received a record $1.137 billion in taxpayer funds in its most recent fiscal year.

Much of this funding comes from general government revenues, which come primarily from payroll taxes and, to some extent, from taxes on mining companies, the country’s largest export industry.

The ATO’s latest corporate tax transparency report found Australia’s mining industry continues to be the country’s largest taxpayer, paying $43.1 billion in company tax for 2022-23.

The comments come after a week in which the tourism benefits scandal has dominated political discourse.

Journalist Joe Aston’s new book, The Chairman’s Room, claims Mr Albanese obtained 22 economy class upgrades on Qantas flights by personally requesting them from the airline’s then chief executive Mr Joyce.

The prime minister denied the claims in a carefully worded statement on Wednesday.

“The Prime Minister never called Alan Joyce to ask for an upgrade,” the statement said.

The scandal has also engulfed the opposition, with Mr Dutton facing questions over his $40,000 free flight from Mr Rinehart.

The Opposition Leader told reporters on Tuesday that neither he nor his office had approached Ms Rinehart about the private flight in November 2022, but he retracted his response two days later.

Mr Dutton said he was traveling to Rockhampton at the time and needed to travel to Sydney for a memorial ceremony in Bali and was unable to find a commercial flight that would then be required to take him to Mackay.

“We asked the government to provide a RAAF flight, they played games and didn’t offer that flight, and at the time I think we had a charter estimate that was about $40,000 to fly from Rockhampton to Sydney and then back to McKay. – he said.

“I thought it was very expensive and a cheaper option for the taxpayer would have been for my office to contact Mrs. Rinehart’s office regarding the availability of the aircraft.”

He fired a parting shot at Mr Albanese, saying: “This was zero cost to the taxpayer.”

National senator Ms McKenzie was also caught out, admitting in an interview with the ABC that she was wrong when she was “so adamant earlier this week” in claiming she was never upgraded on her flight.

She has now asked for a full database of the flights she has taken and has promised to announce any upgrades.