Prime minister’s office approved Anika Wells’s almost-$100,000 flights

The prime minister’s office approved last-minute flight changes for Communications Minister Anika Wells and two staffers that cost taxpayers almost $100,000, Anthony Albanese has confirmed amid an ongoing expenses furore. 

Ms Wells has been under fire since it emerged during Senate estimates she had spent $94,827 on three business-class flights to New York, where she delivered a speech on the incoming social media ban on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

She was initially scheduled to travel with the prime minister for the September meeting, but delayed her departure when news of the Optus Triple Zero (000) outage broke.

The minister has repeatedly defended her spending, insisting it falls within the guidelines, as the Coalition called for an independent review of her expenses. 

Anika Wells has come under fire for the cost of flights she took to New York in September. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Mr Albanese backed her in on Sunday, telling ABC’s Insiders Ms Wells was “doing her job as the communications minister who is in charge of this world-leading legislation”.

He also confirmed that he spoke to Ms Wells about the decision for her to delay her departure and that his office signed off on the new flights. 

“We make decisions as a government,” he said. 

“We spoke in the morning, and the minister travelled. It was a very significant event for Australia.”

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Since the New York flight revelation, the Brisbane-based minister has also been forced to explain a trip to Adelaide where she attended a friend’s birthday party, a ski trip with her family to Thredbo and the cost of meals during the Paris Olympics.

In all cases, Ms Wells insists she was working and therefore it was within parliamentary guidelines to charge the expenses to the taxpayer.

“I had to be in two places at once. It was a really tricky situation,” she told Sky News on Sunday, about the New York flights.

“I genuinely chose the option where I thought I could discharge my duties in both areas.”

The uproar has distracted from Ms Wells’s efforts to spruik the government’s much-anticipated social media ban for under 16s, which is due to come into force on Wednesday.

Thredbo trip under the spotlight

In the case of the Thredbo trip, Ms Wells said she was invited by Paralympics Australia and she made use of a “family reunion” entitlement available to parliamentarians.

Nine newspapers on Sunday reported the minister had charged taxpayers almost $3,000 for travel allowances and flights for her family to join her at the snow. 

The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority shows Ms Wells claimed $844 for two nights’ accommodation at Thredbo on June 20 and 21 and another $318 for a one-night stay in Canberra on June 22, listed as “official” duties and “parliamentary” duties.

Her partner and children went skiing over the weekend, she said, while she attended the Adaptive Festival for Paralympics Australia, held a press conference and visited the National Training Centre.

She then attended official meetings in Canberra on Monday. 

“Every parliamentarian has family reunion entitlement, which I follow. I followed the guidelines on this occasion. I followed the guidelines on all of the occasions. I will continue to do that,” she told Sky News.

“Entitlements should be scrutinised, I’m happy for mine to be scrutinised, I’m happy for mine to continue to be scrutinised, but at the end of the day, I don’t write these rules.”

The family reunion entitlement allows MPs travelling within Australia to bring along their spouse, dependent children or other designated people at the government’s expense, for the purpose of facilitating “family life”, according to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended Anika Wells in an interview on Insiders.  (ABC News)

Mr Albanese said the trip was “within entitlements” as Ms Wells was working during it in her capacity as sports minister.

He did not say, when asked, whether he would have done the same thing. 

“There are rules there, and I’m not going to go through each and every one,” Mr Albanese said.

Similar questions were asked of now-Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke almost a decade ago, after he charged taxpayers more than $12,000 for a four-day trip with his family to Uluru, including more than $8,000 for business-class flights.

At the time, Mr Burke insisted it was within guidelines but eventually conceded the trip was “beyond community expectations”. 

Liberal frontbencher James Paterson called on Ms Wells to refer all her travel expenses to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority for review.

“Ministers of the Crown are paid very well, hundreds of thousands of dollars. If she wants to take her family on a ski holiday, she can pay for it herself,” he told reporters on Sunday. 

“Otherwise, she’s completely out of touch with thousands of Australians right around the country struggling to make ends meet.”

Senator Paterson said the Coalition would be “happy” to take a look at whether the expenses guidelines were too broad, but added that he did not think the rules were the issue. 

“Rules are not a substitute for judgement. Just because something can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done,” he said.

“I think this is about Anika Wells, and not about the rules.”

A government spokesperson said Ms Wells’s travel “was in accordance with the guidelines”.