Sports Minister Anika Wells said she can’t confirm whether she’ll attend the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
The games, which were originally supposed to be held in Victoria before the State withdrew its hosting bid citing cost concerns, will run from July 23 to August 2 2026.
When asked on Tuesday if she’ll attend, Ms Wells said she would have to “carefully calibrate” her schedule amid issues in her dual communications portfolio after a major Telstra outage.
It comes after the Labor frontbencher copped criticism for her travel expenses on various trips in her portfolios, including at AFL Grand Finals, 2024 Summer Olympics, Australian Grand Prix and the Boxing Day Test.
“I think it’s important that Australia is represented at the Commonwealth Games,” she said.
“I think the athletes and everybody that works so hard to get our Australian athletes to the Commonwealth Games would like to see that support.
“But last week is a great example of how our ministerial schedule changes, even by the hour.
“So we’re still looking at whether it’ll be possible.
“I love that part of my job, and I love the relationship that I get to have with our athletes, from grassroots through to high-performance athletes that we know will be over there competing.
“But as always, I have to carefully calibrate my duties in the communications portfolio alongside the sport portfolio.”