Reform Parliamentary Travel Entitlements

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Anika Wells — who currently holds the roles of Communications Minister and Sports Minister — is facing scrutiny over how she has billed taxpayers for travel, family travel and related expenses. 
  • Spending nearly $100,000 for Wells and two staff members to attend the United Nations in New York to promote Australia's under-16s social media ban. 
  • $8500 in family travel expenses to Melbourne during AFL grand final weekends from 2022-24. 
  • A work-related trip to Paris from September 2023-24 which cost more than $115k, with one of the trips including a dinner with Ms Wells, a staffer and a French official, costing about $1000. 
  • Keeping a Comcar waiting while she attended sporting events on three occasions, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars 
While these expenses may have been within the rules, it’s clear that there needs to be change. Taxpayers deserve better. 
The Daily Mail reported that:  

[Sunrise’s Natalie] Barr said her viewers were furious about Wells' spending, reading messages from Australians who felt the spending failed the 'pub test' during a cost-of-living crisis. 
 
My husband's a truck driver. He's away all the time. I don't get flown to see him,' one viewer wrote. 
 
Another said: 'That $1,000 COMCAR bill is my weekly take-home wage.' 
 
A pensioner texted: 'I can't afford heating and cooling, and this is disgusting.' 
 
Barr said workers in the Army, Navy, and Air Force regularly spend months away from their families without such entitlements. 
 
'They all work away from home for months. Politicians are not special. 

Recent public attention on travel entitlements has highlighted that change is needed to ensure that taxpayers are not taken for a ride. 

Send a quick message now to Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien calling for reform of travel entitlements. 
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