Minister for Communications, Anika Wells, has refunded over $10,000 in expenses relating to parliamentary travel after being discovered to have been guilty of breaching the regulations on four occasions, two of which included trips related to the AFL Grand Finals where her husband joined her.
This finding came on Friday by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority following the auditing of Ms Wells claims after she had requested the same following a week of intense scrutiny on her conduct as the sport and communication minister.
She managed to get most of her travel claims approved, although there were four exceptions that were outside the law, and each of them pertained to the family reunion travel allowance.
The four exceptions would mean Ms Wells would need to refund over $10,116, with the amount comprising of a 25% penalty on top of the initial sum claimed.
There was also no misconduct or violation of ethics found throughout the auditing process.
Close to 250 individual trips made as minister between 2022 to 2025 were examined.
This included a trip to New York costing over $100,000 when Ms Wells flew with her staff to the UN headquarters to promote a social media ban amongst the under 16s.
On Friday Ms Wells issued a statement accepting the verdict and apologising.
“Those were four cases where I made the choice of what I thought was the more sensible, cheaper option but those choices were not permitted under the rules which I accept and respect,” she said.
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I accept the IPEA assessment and I am sorry for these honest mistakes. I have paid the money back with penalty loading.
Storm centred on sporting outings
Reports published late last year revealed that Queensland based MP had received free tickets for attending over 60 sporting events following the time she became the sports minister in 2022, and her travel and lodging cost over $62,000.
The flights and hotel bookings in the context of the family reunion program were also questioned, allowing her spouse, Brisbane based lobbyist Finn McCarthy, to join her at three AFL Grand Finals.
In particular, the family holiday for four days in Melbourne ahead of the 2023 grand final, in which her team Brisbane lost to Collingwood, came into criticism. This followed by another trip to Sydney, where they attended the NRL finals the same week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed renewed calls from the Coalition for his minister to resign, having since tightened the family reunion entitlement in the wake of the backlash.
Mr Albanese told reporters in Melbourne Ms Wells had done the right thing by self referring and paying back what was owed. “Anika Wells is a very, very good minister doing extraordinary work,” he said.
He pointed to former Nationals minister Bridget McKenzie, who he said had stayed on as a Coalition shadow minister despite her own flight declaration issues.
