Hypocrisy Blitzkrieg: Anika Wells’ expenses meltdown opens can of worms

The media pileup on Anika Wells’ excessive spending has once again highlighted mass media and political hypocrisy. Andrew Gardiner It reveals the victory of politics over politics.

Communications Minister Anika Wells spent $120,000 On a trip to New York in September to introduce the “world’s first” social media ban at the UN General Assembly.

He spent almost the same amount on his three trips to Europe as Minister of Sports (2022-25) in a year Plus another $13,000 for the Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games and Paralympics husband to three successive AFL Grand Finals and cricket events, among other eyebrow-raising acts.

Always a hot topic for punters, the tabloid media pounced on this alleged waste. “The biggest winner of Anika Wells’ ‘family reunion’ splurge is the successful bank executive,” cried the Daily Mail, calling Wells’ fiancée ‘Free’ Finn McCarthy.

He should not have been left behind the usual suspects at News Corp: “The depth and breadth of his spending spree on our dime is frankly staggering; don’t stand between a Labor politician and a taxpayer-funded spectacle,” wrote Rita Panahi in the Herald Sun.

“You know this frightened the government because Communications Minister Wells went into hiding just a day before he introduced the new ban on children using social media,” Andrew Bolt He informed Sky News.

price is wrong

We have not seen such righteous anger from the Fourth Estate since:Upgrade Albo” (Prime Minister Albanese, Labor, NSW) was humiliated for days over Qantas benefits late last year. These are two Labor MPs.

In the interest of fairness and balance, ALP sources are calling for a particular serial offender from the Coalition benches to get his turn on the front pages and leading newsletters. If Wells is the reference point, this MP more than deserves some time in the barrel.

For starters, this Senator has been known to fly to meetings to make ends meet on private jets only 300km far. Had to pay over $11,000 13 cases for improperly using a government car and flying business class to attend her husband’s concerts. 76 times It will cost taxpayers $76,509.19 ahead of the referendum in 2023.

Anti-Elite elite

In a January move where ‘ironic’ cannot do justice, this anti-‘elite’ culture warrior was made the coalition’s spokesman for “government efficiency” and tasked with exposing and ending “”.wasteful spending“…Cynical Canberra press gallery members would normally have to wait years for low-hanging bait like this to emerge.

As most readers would have guessed, the Coalition Senator was none other than Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the media-appointed “indigenous leader” of her Walpiri people. won’t have a bar.

Price had what observers called a “magical run” as he campaigned for a ‘No’ vote in the Voice Referendum in 2023, rarely touching on specifics and protected by L-NP ally Warren Mundine; human shield at media events.

Price and Wells

Comparing Wells’ alleged crimes to Price’s is a complicated task. Only a few “apples-to-apples” correlations can be made between the spending of Price, an NT Senator with a largely domestic portfolio (before taking his seat on the backbench), and Wells, a city-based MP from Brisbane’s north whose ministerial duties require travel abroad.

Family travel is perhaps the best measure, factoring in distance and flights, and in this regard Price leaves Wells in the red and Alice Springs in the dust. Figures for 2022-25 tell the story: Price swallowed, according to Belinda Jones and the Independent Parliamentary Expenditures Authority (IPEA) $63,023.92 With Wells ranking a distant second in family travel expenses during this period. $36,142.90.

Price’s family traveled farther, of course, at greater cost, but the real excitement comes when you find out how old their kids are. They are adults, ages 23, 21, and 19, respectively (though Wells’ three children are much younger).

Many taxpayers would regard the practice of bringing grown adults along on trips (certainly using the ‘family reunification’ right that applies to MPs with young children) as an abuse of a broken system.

Media hypocrisy

How did the media react to Price’s extravagance? There was some news – even a ‘tut tut’ from the Daily Mail (as you, the taxpayer, “keep up with the huge cost”) – but it wasn’t anything remotely resembling Wells’ feeding frenzy this month.

One MWM A search of old media websites or social media posts* found 227 mentions of Wells’ travel woes this month; For Price it was only 10.

The sheer, concentrated volume of Wells’ news Sky News especially – set the agendaWhile it kept Wells trending on social media, the few and infrequent articles about Price ensured there wasn’t such a critical mass for him.

Of course, both politicians put forward arguments in their defense.

Wells insisted:I followed the rulesPrice took a more Trumpian approach, calling the media “smear campaign”Mentioned more than 10 times in the media.

Old Pub Quiz

Whatever their relative merits, none of these answers seem likely to pass the proverbial bar test. However, IPEA, Jacinta Price 11th placeThis On their ‘family reunion’ trip last year, Anika Wells was ranked 68th in the latest results (according to Channel 9).pearl

The media appears to have given Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and most of the 10 MPs on her family reunification spending list a bit of a free pass, just as the Morrison Government has given little coverage to most of her travel excursions. documented by MWM here. The question is: why?

You don’t need a PhD in political science to know that you have an innate tendency to prefer women. free marketcentre-right parties in legacy media. Corporate media owners prefer the ‘lower taxes, less regulation’ ethos of the Liberal and National Parties, that’s a fact duly reflected in their news and in the comments of their hired hands.

Yes, politics… but what about politics?

Despite News Corp’s sketchy approach the disappearance of its initial privileged feature L-NP’s connections in Wells some Murdoch clerks its provision Senate Estimates The attack on Wells will be reinforced from the rooftops.

This is plus possibility Voters forgetting the high travel bills of the Morrison years meant Wells’ trips earned the most feared of nicknames: scandal.

The media ecosystem surrounding Australian politics displays a strange set of priorities even at the best of times. While the several million spent on Wells’ travel expenses may seem newsworthy, his policy decisions (which generate little or no news or controversy) are far more impactful to Australians.

For example, it may cause him to delay a decision (and make the expected abandonment) plans to impose a complete ban on online gambling advertising, possibly using another of Wells’ commitments: the social media ban on children: “as cover The ban on under-16s is seen as somewhat of a “solution”, limiting the exposure of a group dependent on pocket money to these ads. break the rules for a struggle.

How this helps older Australians with real, disposable income is a mystery. Meanwhile, the harms caused by online and other forms of gambling (relationship breakdown, financial difficulties, health effects and suicide) cost us dearly 25 billion dollars Over two years from 2022-23.

That’s much more than Wells’ travel bill, but “these damages, including suicide.” systematically underreportedBy corporate media, says Angela Rintoul of the University of Melbourne: Coincidentally or not, free-to-air TV networks have stepped in approximately 162 million dollars From gambling advertising revenue for the period to April 2023.

Legacy media had two options when covering Anika Wells. “Should we be fair and balanced, largely ignoring her nonsense (just like we did with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price) and giving Wells as much (or more) service in gambling advertising as we do in travel perks?

Either way, readers could be forgiven for thinking that someday money has been made.

A hot mess. Sneaky Sportsbet’s ‘disorder’

*MWM News Corp headlines, websites or social media feeds from the AFR, West Australian, Canberra Times, Daily Mail, Sky News, Seven News, Ten News, Nine media, AFR, SBS and the ABC were searched to compare Wells and Price’s travel discussions.

An Adelaide-based Media Studies graduate with an MA in Social Policy, I was an editor covering current affairs, local government and sport for a variety of publications before deciding to change careers in 2002.