Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected calls for Communications Minister Anika Wells to resign over the use of taxpayer-funded travel entitlements.
However, he confirmed that an Independent Parliamentary Expenses Agency (IPEA) will review her claims and determine whether they comply with existing rules.
“Minister Wells has self-referred all of her issues just to check that it is all within the rules which are there,” Albanese said on ABC mornings, adding the audit would occur “at arm’s length” from government.
Wells is facing scrutiny over taxpayer-funded family travel to various sporting events and a skiing trip, as well as a $100,000 government-approved visit to New York to promote Australia’s under-16 social media ban.
Rules Set By Coalition Government
Asked whether family-reunion rules should be revisited, Albanese pointed to guidelines established under the previous Coalition government, after now-Liberal leader Sussan Ley triggered scrutiny for an official Gold Coast trip in 2017, during which she inspected and purchased a $795,000 apartment.Ley, who was health minister at the time, resigned following the incident.
“That was put in place by the former government after Sussan Ley had to resign… It’s important that they have a look at it, and Anika Wells has done the right thing,” Albanese said.
Under parliamentary entitlements, spouses, dependent children and nominated family members can travel at Commonwealth expense when the MP is away for parliamentary business, provided the dominant purpose is to maintain family life rather than attend leisure events.
Family members must either accompany or join the MP on such occasions.
Albanese said those rules had helped make Parliament more representative and enabled more women with children to serve.
AFL Trips Under Question
Wells’ register of interests, updated as recently as last week, shows she received two corporate suite tickets to 2022 AFL Grand Final. Her IPEA report records a “family traveller” charge of $2,913.68 for flights from Brisbane to Melbourne on Sept. 24, 2022, and back the following day.The pattern continued in 2023, when she declared two suite tickets to 2023 AFL Grand Final, coinciding with four family-traveller expenses between Sept. 27 and Oct. 1, totalling $3,537.15.
In 2024, her register again lists two tickets to the AFL Grand Final. The match on Sept. 28 was accompanied by a family-travel claim of $2,126.70 for a same-day Brisbane–Melbourne return.
The Nine newspapers reported she claimed more than $8,500 in family travel expenses across the three AFL Grand Final weekends while also receiving complimentary suite tickets.
Wells has acknowledged public concern about her expenses and said the matters should be assessed independently.
“I always give really thoughtful care in the decisions I make … I really do my best,” she told reporters on Dec. 10 in Sydney.
She also confirmed she was “happy” for IPEA to examine a Comcar charge of more than $1,000 after a vehicle reportedly waited eight hours during an event.
Giving reference to Ley’s case, Wells said that parliamentarians should not design the rules themselves.
“Yes, we have used family reunion entitlements within the rules on occasion but … the vast numbers of items in my diary … no, they haven’t been there,” she said.
Meanwhile, opposition MPs have called for tougher rules and a formal inquiry by IPEA.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh, herself a mother of three, said the travel claims exceeded community expectations.
“I’ve used it three times in my whole seven years of being a member of parliament, but people of Australia, they are struggling right now, so I think that [there is] even more intense focus on what politicians are doing,” she said on ABC.
