Sports minister charged taxpayers $1000 for car to wait seven hours at Australian Open
“But each time the reports made public were in line with the rules, and the rules are overseen by an independent authority that keeps its distance from politicians.”
Wells, who was communications minister at the start of this term, is the face of Labour’s social media ban, one of the government’s most significant initiatives, which comes into force on Wednesday. He is expected to spend the week in front of the media, attending public events and answering questions about the app.
Family reunion travel rules
MPs’ obligations when determining whether they can claim family reunification costs.
- Dominant purpose: Under family reunification rules, an MP’s family can accompany or join them when conducting parliamentary business at the Commonwealth’s expense. Travel must be the “overriding purpose” of facilitating the parliamentarian’s family life.
- Value for money: MPs are required to use public resources for parliamentary business in a way that provides value for money. MPs could allow family members to travel to Canberra under an annual cost-based limit and require up to three round-trip business class airfares for families to travel elsewhere in Australia.
- Goodwill: Deputies must act ethically and in good faith when using public resources or accounting for them. They should not attempt to disguise personal or business affairs as parliamentary business.
- Personal liability and responsibility: An MP is personally responsible and accountable for the use of public resources and must consider how the public will perceive the use of those resources.
- Conditions: If a Member of Parliament has not met all the conditions for the provision of a public resource, he or she should not make a request or incur any expense in relation to that public resource.
The minister was active on social media but did not appear publicly on Monday after giving a lengthy interview to Sky News on Sunday dominated by questions about his spending.
The investigation into Wells’ spending began last Wednesday, when it was revealed that taxpayers paid almost $100,000 in airfare for the minister and two staffers to visit the United Nations in New York in September. It was later revealed she had charged $3681 for a business trip to Adelaide, which included a friend’s birthday party, $1389 for her husband and two children to accompany her to Thredbo’s ski fields while she was there for a business event, and $1200 to fly her husband to Melbourne for the F1 Grand Prix.
The receipts also show Wells charging taxpayers $1,750 for dinner and drinks for four in Paris ($1,000 for food and $750 for drinks for himself, a staff member, the Australian ambassador and a government official) during his trip to the French capital for the Olympic Games.
Both Wells and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the use of the powers and reiterated they were within the rules. Wells told Sky News He said Sunday he could “certainly appreciate that people are having a visceral reaction to these numbers.”
“I do not submit to that and therefore I accepted that the powers should be examined. I am happy that mine are examined,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I don’t write these rules.”
Albanese told ABC’s insider program “It was completely legal.” “Family reunification rights are available. All travel was in accordance with the rules,” he said.
New statements include Comcar’s seven-hour wait
Wells’ list of members’ interests reveals Wells has purchased two tickets for both the Australian Open women’s and men’s singles finals in 2023; He and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil were seated behind Tennis Australia president Jayne Hrdlicka, then governor-general David Hurley and tennis legends Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Billy Jean King.
Sports Minister Anika Wells is at the Australian Open this year.Credit: Tennis Australia/Fiona Hamilton
Figures from the independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority show Wells charged taxpayers $958.98 for his Comcar on Saturday, January 28. Comcars’ hourly wage is $133.20, which means Wells’ car was waiting for the minister for about seven hours.
When Wells participated in the men’s final the next day, he charged taxpayers $123.91 and $142.80 respectively for two Comcar trips. The total cost of the minister’s trip to Melbourne that weekend – including cocars, flights and a $469 daily travel allowance – was more than $3800.
Wells’ attendance at the Australian Open finals is standard practice for sports ministers and spending requests are also within the rules. However, it is unusual for a Comcar to sit for seven hours.
A government spokesman said: “The travel is in line with the guidelines and the minister has attended to his duties as sports minister.”
Late MP’s birthday is the second batch in Wells’ spending diary
Wells also claimed $1600 from taxpayers for travel to Melbourne on the weekend of Labor MP Peta Murphy’s final birthday party on Saturday November 18, 2023, a month before Murphy died. The 50th birthday event was attended by Labor MPs from Victoria as well as interstate MPs including Wells, Plibersek, Payne and Smith.
Independent Parliamentary Expenditures Authority records show Plibersek, Payne and Smith did not charge taxpayers for travel to Melbourne that weekend.
The IPEA website shows Wells charged taxpayers $913.91 to fly from Brisbane to Melbourne on November 18 and return the next day.
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Over the same two days, Wells received five taxpayer-funded Comcars: two in Melbourne on 18 November, one in Brisbane, and one in each city on 19 November. The cost of these five Comcar trips was $688.32, bringing the total trip expenses to $1602.23.
Wells, who was aged care minister at the time, did not claim taxpayers’ $469 travel allowance for her one-night stay in Melbourne, although she was entitled to do so because she claimed she was on parliamentary business.
Wells’ official media page on the health department’s website shows that he did not make any major announcements or issue any media releases that weekend.
But he posted photos from two events on his Instagram page: on Saturday he celebrated a donation to a local surf lifesaving club in Melbourne with Labor MP Josh Burns, while the other on Sunday he visited residents of an aged care home “for word puzzles” with local MP Carina Garland.
A spokesman said Wells’ travel was within the rules, pointing to two community events he attended in Melbourne.
Taxpayers demanded thousands for Wells to attend husband’s sporting events
Two new revelations from this imprint increase the pressure on Wells as several reports about the extent of her husband Finn McCarthy’s taxpayer-funded trip escalated Monday.
Her husband attended three grand finals, one of which his children attended, and their flights cost the taxpayer $8,577.53. Adding other travel allowances, the cost was more than $16,000.
Sports Minister Anika Wells and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with the Australian men’s cricket team at Kirribilli House in January this year.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
McCarthy also attended two Boxing Day test matches with Wells and another cricket event at Kirribilli House. Her flights to these events cost taxpayers $4,183.83, and on all three occasions the sports minister and her husband were together for a day.
Labor MPs react to Wells’ decision
Some Labor supporters privately say he should pay back the costs, while others argue he should spend time with his family. Labor Secretary Tanya Plibersek and understudy Jerome Laxale defended Wells on Monday.
“There are so many weekends away from home that if you’re the sports minister, a lot of those are weekend events that you have to consciously attend because that’s when people watch sport,” Plibersek told Sky News. he said.
Laxale said Australians understood the sports minister would attend the events. “I think it’s pretty dangerous to attack politicians for trying to spend time with their families. Sometimes the only time you can spend with them is for work events,” he said.
“It’s difficult, but that’s why we have this process, so that ministers and MPs can spend time with their families. I think it’s important that this system continues. Obviously there is a review on this and that is very fair.”
Liberal MP Aaron Violi said family meetings were helpful given MPs travel so much. But this needs to be approached with respect, he said. “Why does your husband need to use family reunification with taxpayers’ money to make it to Boxing Day? These are the kinds of questions that need to be answered.”
He called on IPEA to investigate.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh, whose own family’s travel allowances are being examined, said she felt for Wells as a mother and advocated bringing the children on business trips. “I have no problem with the family reunification issue. It is difficult to be a female MP,” she said. “It’s very difficult. You bring your child with you.”
But he said Wells’ decisions showed a different pattern of behavior. “That’s a lot of money during a cost-of-living crisis,” he said. “He’s throwing taxpayer money around like confetti.”
