Labor’s Anika Wells kept a Comcar waiting while she attended sporting events on three occasions, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars, the ABC can reveal.
But the expensive trips are far from outliers for MPs across the political spectrum, dozens of whom have racked up similar bills in recent years.
Ms Wells has faced a barrage of queries this week over whether her use of taxpayer entitlements has met public expectations, with scrutiny on overseas trips, family travel, attendance at birthday parties, and use of Commonwealth vehicles.
Disclosures show the sports minister accrued large Comcar bills on three days when she attended major sporting events. These include:
$1,288 for a Comcar in Sydney on October 2, 2022, when she attended the NRL men’s and women’s grand finals at Olympic Park;$1,063 over two days for Comcars in Melbourne on September 29-30, 2023, when she attended the AFL grand final at the MCG; and$959 for a Comcar in Melbourne on January 28, 2023, when she attended the women’s singles final of the Australian Open.
Anika Wells accumulated more than $1,000 in Comcar bills on the day of the 2023 AFL Grand Final and the day before, some of which may include meetings. (AAP: James Ross)
A government spokesperson told the ABC that travel to the Australian Open, first reported by Nine newspapers, was “in line with the guidelines” and that Ms Wells “attended in her role as sport minister”.
The spokesperson could not confirm details of the other two trips, but the minister declared two tickets to each event on her gift register.
MPs have 28 business days to declare gifts and interests on the register, though Ms Wells made several changes late yesterday after that deadline amid media attention.
Comcars are billed per minute, at a rate of $2.22 but slightly lower at the time of these events. This includes waiting time and suggests the cars were in use for at least seven hours on all four occasions.
It is not possible to conclude how much of this time was spent waiting at the events, given that it is possible the minister had other engagements on the same day, and the disclosures include dates, not times.
Hundreds of hefty Comcar bills
Parliamentarians can use Comcars if the “dominant purpose” of their travel is to conduct work business and the option “represents value for money”, according to official guidelines.
Expensive Comcar trips are common. Since detailed records were first disclosed in 2017, there have been 683 Comcar trips that cost taxpayers more than $1,000 with a total of 88 politicians crossing that threshold.
This year alone, there have been 108. Roughly half of these were for Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton, in many instances during the election campaign and likely to be related to security requirements.
Top of this year’s list is a trip to Brisbane by independent MP Bob Katter in March tallying $2,896. Mr Katter, who is one of the most prolific Comcar users and has exceeded $1,000 nine times this year, is entitled to a larger travel budget owing to his large electorate.
Bob Katter is a prolific Comcar user. (Australian Story: Marc Smith)
Several ministers have notched up multiple four-figure trips this year, including Anne Aly, Tim Ayres, Chris Bowen, Mark Butler, Matt Keogh, Catherine King, Richard Marles, Clare O’Neil, Tanya Plibersek and Amanda Rishworth, but not Ms Wells.
Coalition frontbenchers Darren Chester, Jonathon Duniam, sports spokesperson Anne Ruston and Susan McDonald have also topped $1,000 at least once this year.
Coalition puts heat on Wells over sport trips
While the scrutiny on Ms Wells has centred around specific instances rather than overall spending, disclosures also show she is not an outlier for overseas trips, family reunion travel, or total spending.
Over the last parliament, she spent the 18th most on Comcars, ranking behind 15 ministry colleagues, plus Bob Katter and David Littleproud.
She ranked 34th on family reunion spending, 17th for international travel and 23rd overall.
Comcar use requires MPs to obtain ‘maxium value’, avoid ‘waste’
The Commonwealth maintains a fleet of cars with drivers in all capital cities for federal MPs to undertake their parliamentary business — known as Comcar.
Comcars can be reserved in advance, and the program is also supplemented with hire cars and taxis during peak times and outside of the major cities.
Like taxi services, Comcars charge minimum rates, cancellation charges, waiting time fees and a per minute rate, and MPs are able to make, amend and cancel bookings through an online service.
The Finance Department stipulates that MPs using Comcars are required to ensure the “dominant purpose” of its use is for work, and that its use provides “value for money” — that is, whether the maximum value was obtained, and whether the Comcar was used effectively and economically, “achieving the required outcome while avoiding waste and minimising cost”.
Comcars are also not available if an MP could reasonably use a private vehicle.