Explore the latest developments concerning Anika Wells claimed.
Anika Wells claimed more than $8,500 for family travel to Melbourne during AFL grand final weekends over three years
Exclusive: Labor’s minister for communications and sport has stood by her use of family travel expenses as within the rules
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Anika Wells claimed more than $8,500 in family travel expenses to Melbourne during AFL grand final weekends in 2022, 2023 and 2024, when she received free suite tickets to the matches.
The minister for communications and sport has stood by her use of family travel expenses as within the rules, but the Coalition opposition is demanding reforms to expense rules and an inquiry into Wells’ spending by the independent parliamentary expenses authority (IPEA), which tracks and reports politicians’ spending on travel and office expenses.
Wells spent thousands on Comcars for grand finals
Anika Wells billed taxpayers thousands for Comcars on days when she attended NRL, AFL and Australian Open finals. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Labor's Anika Wells amassed thousands of dollars of Comcar costs over three occasions when she attended sporting events.
The minister has faced a barrage of queries over whether her use of taxpayer entitlements is appropriate.
Dozens of MPs across the spectrum have taken Comcar trips in excess of $1,000, and Ms Wells' overall spending is not an outlier.
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.
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Wells charged taxpayers $1000 for car to wait while she watched tennis – for seven hours
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Sport Minister Anika Wells charged taxpayers almost $1000 to have a government-funded Comcar wait seven hours for her while she attended the Australian Open tennis final in January 2023, in the latest example of the embattled cabinet minister’s use of travel entitlements.
It adds to fresh reports from Monday that show Wells billed taxpayers $10,000 to fly her husband to Melbourne for the AFL grand final three times, for the Boxing Day Test two times, and to a cricket event at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Sydney residence. On most occasions, her husband completed the return trip home to Brisbane on the same day.
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