Anika Wells Justifies $100K Taxpayer-Funded Trip: A Deep Dive into Government Spending

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A senior federal minister is defending her taxpayer-funded trips as being within government guidelines, as new details emerge about other costs and the Coalition pushes for an independent review.

Anika Wells came under fire for the $100,000 cost of flying herself and three staff to New York to promote Australia’s social media age ban, with further details emerging about trips she took to Paris, Thredbo and Adelaide.

She accepted the spending would elicit a “gut reaction” in the average Australian, but said it was an independent agency booking flights, rather than her browsing “Webjet”.

Wells had planned to accompany Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the Royal Air Force jet to New York in September. However, unforeseen circumstances arose due to the aftermath of a critical Optus emergency services outage, causing a delay in her travel.

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“For me, the driving force behind our policy is its potential to transform lives, and I firmly support our efforts,” Wells stated.

She further shared, “A number of UN officials expressed that attending this forum was a unique experience, with one commenting, ‘this is the first time I’ve been to a gathering that has genuinely reshaped my perspective’.”

Albanese defended the spending as within the guidelines and said the New York trip to promote the social media ban, which will come into effect on Wednesday, was “very significant”.

“This was an important event that led directly to the European Union taking action,” he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.

“One of the comments I heard from various UN officials was … ‘this is the first time I’ve been to a forum that has changed my mind’.”

Wells, who is also the sports minister, reportedly took three trips to Paris in 12 months at a cost of $116,000, to attend major sporting events including the Rugby World Cup, Paris Olympics and Paris Paralympics.

She was authorised to spend $6,000 on meals for five days, with one dinner reportedly billed for $600.

“I recall sometimes I was eating a muesli bar in the car. These are big days,” Wells said.

“I appreciate it looks a certain way because it’s Paris, but that is where the Games were.”

Coalition pushing for review

Coalition senator James Paterson said he was bewildered by the costs, which he said should be reviewed by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority.

“That’s an extraordinary expenditure of public money and it has to be publicly justified,” Paterson told reporters on Sunday.

Industry spokesperson Alex Hawke said the spending did not pass the pub test, adding the expenses were so high they would “make the royals blush”.

“It simply doesn’t stack up and the minister’s defences don’t seem to stack up either,” he told Sky News.

“If the minister is eating a muesli bar … then why is the taxpayer being charged for expensive dinners … if she’s not partaking of them.”

Wells was also questioned about using travel entitlements to attend a friend’s birthday while on a three-day, $3,600 work trip to Adelaide in June.

“I met with my South Australian counterpart in part about the South Australian Sport Institute, where we opened a para unit,” she said.

The minister also spent $3,000 on flights and allowances for her husband and children to join her at Thredbo in June 2024 while she attended meetings with Paralympics Australia and Adaptive Festival organisers.

Wells acknowledged her family went skiing, but said she was there to work and the trip was within the family reunion and travel guidelines.

In 2012, current Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke took a work trip to Uluru and claimed $12,000 so his family could join him.

While within the rules, he repaid $8,656 of that trip when details emerged in 2015, admitting it was “beyond community expectations”.

Wells did not indicate she would be paying any of the money back, and said “I work really hard” and that she will keep following the rules “as I have in every single instance”.