A key critic of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the firestorm over Qantas upgrades has been forced to launch a probe into her own travel arrangements.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said on Thursday she was seeking further information about her own flight deals.

It follows reports that the Nationals senator for Victoria – one of the most vocal critics of Albanese’s flight arrangements – received an upgrade in 2024 that she did not disclose.

McKenzie said she had gone through her own travel records as far back as 2011.

“In my public comments, I said to the best of my knowledge all flights had been appropriately declared and that I had not personally solicited an upgrade. However, I try not to hold others to a standard to which I would not hold myself,” she said.

“Consequently, yesterday I wrote to the three major domestic airlines, Qantas, Virgin and the administrators for Regional Express, seeking their assistance to provide me with a full history of upgrades and flights I may have been in receipt of.”

McKenzie said she would make changes to her parliamentary declarations if there were any inconsistencies.

It is the latest development in a political storm sparked by a book by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston. He claims that Albanese received 22 upgrades from Qantas and would liaise personally with former chief executive Alan Joyce for the perks.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek accused McKenzie of hypocrisy.

“What [Albanese’s] press conferences have demonstrated is that he’s been completely transparent and reported any upgrades that he’s received,” she said.

“That’s a real contrast to Bridget McKenzie, who we found out today apparently hasn’t been declaring upgrades, despite the fact that she’s the transport shadow minister.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, meanwhile, backed McKenzie.

“Bridget has been open and forthright, the complete opposite of what the Prime Minister has been. Bridget was not the Prime Minister or the transport minister requesting flight upgrades from the CEO or a proxy of the CEO,” he said.

“I mean, the Prime Minister continues to dig deeper each day.”

Albanese has rejected the allegations, releasing a statement where he explicitly ruled out calling Joyce for the upgrades.

“The Prime Minister did not ever call Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade,” a spokesman for Albanese said late on Wednesday.

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

Attention then turned to the detail of Albanese’s carefully chosen words. Opposition frontbencher James Paterson said the PM had been evasive.

“I honestly wonder how dumb the Prime Minister’s Office thinks the Australian people are that they’ll be fooled by such a carefully worded statement,” he told Sky News Australia on Thursday.

“It doesn’t go to the core of the issue at all.”

Senator David Pocock noted that the statement did not rule out that Albanese had sought upgrades via other avenues.

“Were there text messages, emails?” Pocock said on ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday night.

The crossbench senator questioned whether parliamentary standards that allowed politicians to secure perks as long as they were publicly declared was in line with public expectations.

“Is that up to standard?” he said.

“The next step I would like to see is actually saying, ‘OK, we’re not holding ourselves to a high enough standard as politicians, let’s rethink the way that we do these declarations’.”

On Thursday, Albanese clarified that he never sought out Joyce for upgrades by other means of communication such as text or email.

Elsewhere, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Albanese had declared his travel arrangements in line with the rules for MPs and senators.

“The PM’s job every day is about focusing on cost of living. I work with him very closely. That’s the job that he’s focused on,” she told ABC Radio on Thursday.

“He’s now answered some further questions about arrangements of flights that occurred sometimes up to over a decade ago.

“Hopefully, the fascination on this subject will move on, because the real issues facing everybody in Australia is around cost of living.”

Gallagher said a broader inquiry into travel arrangements of federal politicians was not needed, as there were already rules for declarations.

-with AAP