Anika Wells insists she follow travel spending rules, says three portfolios comes with ‘countless’ requests

Anika Wells insists she has always been sensitive to community sentiment over politicians’ use of taxpayer money for travel entitlements and remains confident a fresh audit of her expenses will find everything above board.

But the under-fire minister stopped short of saying the rules should change to better align with community expectations.

On Thursday The Nightly revealed Ms Wells had flown from Brisbane in August for a day of ministerial meetings in Sydney and then celebrated her own 40th birthday with friends, including the Prime Minister.

Following the overnight trip on August 15, the Minister charged taxpayers $1589.84 for a return flight from Brisbane and use of Commonwealth cars while working in Sydney.

The Nightly also revealed that Ms Wells had charged taxpayers at least $62,000 to attend more than 60 sporting events since becoming Sports Minister.

The minister on Tuesday referred herself to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority for an audit.

But she said on Wednesday all of her expenses had previously been checked, some of them twice, and cleared.

“I’ve got three different portfolios, I have countless requests to be in all different towns and cities to do all different things, I could probably live every day three times over and still not get through all of the requests from people for my time,” she told reporters in Sydney.

“I am happy to answer these questions and I understand people want value for taxpayer money. I take taxpayer money really seriously and I am happy for you guys have this debate and to keep answering your questions.”

She said the rules were set at arm’s length from politicians, under legislation passed by the previous government.

“My job is to follow the rules, I have followed the rules,” she said.

“This has obviously prompted a national discussion… That is why IPEA should constantly review these things and should take into account community sentiment.”

Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese had to defend the growing travel scandal while declaring, “It’s a proud day to be the Australian Prime Minister” as he spruiked the landmark social media ban for kids that came into effect on Wednesday.

Appearing on Sunrise to mark the beginning of the new restrictions for under 16s online, Mr Albanese said the regulations would improve the lives of Australian families, but he was also questioned about the use of taxpayer-funded entitlements by politicians.

“This is a reform that’s come from parents who had lost their young sons or daughters. It’s come from young people themselves. This is families taking back control,” Mr Albanese said of the ban, which has now come into effect.

“Parents are getting more peace of mind over what their young ones are looking at, but young people as well, being able to enjoy their childhood.”

The Prime Minister also insisted Ms Wells had broken no rules.

“(These are) rules that were put in place by the former government, after (then Health Minister) Sussan Ley had to resign as a minister after going to the Gold Coast to look at property issues,” he said.

“I understand where people are coming from … the independent parliamentary expenses authority was set up by the former government to examine things independently at arm’s length.

“But this began, of course, with the minister’s visit to New York. That was a really important event that has to has led directly to global action (on social media bans) following Australia … I’ll tell you what, a trip to New York for two days is work. That’s not fun.”

The rolling travel expenses saga has led to scrutiny across the board of taxpayers covering the cost of family travel.

In 2024 and 2023, total family travel expenses for all politicians was just over $1.2 million for the 12-month period.

For the election year of 2022, which was also marked by ongoing pandemic border closures, the family travel bill came to just $828,000.

Before the pandemic, in 2019, it was just over $1 million.

For this year, to the end of September, family travel costs have been just shy of $970,000.

The rules allow politicians to claim costs for up to nine business class return fairs between their home base and Canberra each year, and up to three return flights to join the on “parliamentary business” anywhere in the country.

On Wednesday, The Australian reported that veteran Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has claimed close to $50,000 since mid-2022 for her husband Ben Oquist, a lobbyist, to travel between Adelaide and Canberra.

Trips taken by senior ministers Don Farrell and Michelle Rowland with their families have also come under the spotlight.

Several Opposition MPs have also claimed expenses for family travel including trips to Perth, which are typically expensive to make from the east coast.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had a family member join her in Perth during the election campaign on the day that she attended a rally with Peter Dutton and urged supporters to “make Australia great again”.

Her flights for the trip cost $4348, travelling Darwin-Perth-Sydney over three days, while the family travel only covered a flight from Perth to Sydney for $2999, IPEA records show.

Frontbencher Jonno Duniam had three family members join him in Perth for three days in September 2024, with flights home via Sydney at a total cost of $4723, IPEA records show. His own flights for the same trip cost $5892.

The then-shadow environment minister posted photos on social media of himself with Durack MP Melissa Price at a Woodside facility and with then-candidate for Forrest Ben Small and his predecessor Nola Marino, with the note, “As part of my shadow portfolio responsibilities, it was great to see how our economy ticks and to visit my colleagues who are doing great work holding the government to account.”

Nationals frontbencher Anne Webster’s records show she travelled to Perth with a family member in 2023 to attend the World Transplant Games as part of a five-day trip west.

Rules for travel expenses are set by the independent Remuneration Tribunal, then turned into law via ministerial regulation. IPEA oversees the system and offers advice to politicians wanting to check their entitlements.

The Remuneration Tribunal is required by law to review travel expense settings annually, but Special Minister of State Don Farrell can also ask it to make other inquiries.

However, it’s understood the Government is unlikely to request any re-examination of the rules and whether they meet community expectations before IPEA’s audit of Ms Wells’ expenses is complete.