‘Pub test’: minister under fire over new flight details
Zac de Silva |
Pressure is mounting on cabinet minister Anika Wells following revelations she charged taxpayers to fly her husband to the cricket and Formula One.
The spending is the latest in the unfolding saga, with Ms Wells’ bills for various trips running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Her colleagues have defended the cash splash but the opposition is piling pressure on the communications and sports minister, demanding an independent inquiry.
In 2022, Ms Wells charged taxpayers $1885 for return flights between Brisbane and Melbourne for her husband to join her for the Boxing Day cricket test against South Africa.
In 2024, she also reportedly claimed $1275 to fly her husband to Sydney for the prime minister’s reception for the Australian and Pakistani cricket teams, and $984 to fly him to Melbourne for a match at the MCG.
Ms Wells billed taxpayers another $888 to fly her husband from Brisbane to Melbourne to attend the 2024 Formula One Grand Prix.
The flights were all claimed under “family reunion” rules, which allow politicians to claim three business-class airfares a year for family members to join them while they’re travelling on official business.
The latest claims follow a string of revelations about Ms Wells’ travel, including that she charged taxpayers for a ritzy dinner in Paris, to fly her family to a NSW ski resort, and to travel to Adelaide where she attended a friend’s birthday party.
The government also spent nearly $100,000 sending the communications minister to the United Nations in New York City to spruik Australia’s upcoming social media ban.
The opposition argues even if the travel was within the guidelines, ministers should be held to a higher standard.
Under Labor’s ministerial code of conduct, frontbenchers are reminded to be cautious with their use of taxpayer money.
“Such resources are not to be subject to wasteful or extravagant use, and due economy is to be observed at all times,” it warns.
Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor said the spending didn’t pass the pub test.
“You don’t pay for your family to go on holidays … with your expense funding,” he told ABC radio.
Ms Wells’ colleagues leapt to her defence, with senior minister Tanya Plibersek arguing the spending had been reported transparently and the role of sports minister required lots of weekend travel.
“It’s not a nine-to-five job,” she told Seven’s Sunrise.
“There’s so many weekends away from home.”
Fellow minister Amanda Rishworth conceded MPs needed to be “very, very careful” with their spending while people were struggling to make ends meet but said the travel was for work purposes.
“Minister Wells has extensively answered these questions and made it very clear that she followed the guidelines,” she told Nine’s Today Show.
AAP
