PM defends Anika Wells' taxpayer-funded trips to New York, Thredbo

Sunday, 7 December 2025 18:50

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended Communications and Sports Minister Anika Wells as her Olympic-sized expenses bills come under scrutiny.

Wells' taxpayer-funded travel has copped criticism, with Shadow Industry Minister Alex Hawke saying "whether it's New York, whether it's Paris, whether it's Thredbo, these are expenses that would make the royals blush".

Following revelations the communications minister's September trip to the United Nations cost just under $100,000, scrutiny has now turned to her jet-setting as sports minister.

Minister for Communications and Minister for Sport Anika Wells and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese take questions from students for a pre-recorded episode of Behind The News (BTN), at Parliament House in Canberra. Albanese has now defended Wells for several taxpayer funded trips she has taken.

She said she was kept very busy in Paris, recalling that "sometimes I was eating a muesli bar in the car".

Although not on her first night, dining at a Michelin-star restaurant at a cost of €569 ($1000) for a dinner for four, followed by drinks costing €427 ($750).

"We definitely did not go to a second location. From my memory I basically fell asleep at the table and we walked home," Wells told Sky.

And when Wells went to Thredbo in support of Paralympians in June, her family tagged along for a ski weekend at taxpayer expense, worth nearly $3000.

Wells defended the cost, saying "every parliamentarian has family reunion entitlements".

The defence was echoed by Albanese, who told the ABC's Insiders today that "all of the travel was within guidelines".

"Anika Wells was working on that [Thredbo] trip as sports minister, participating in the lifting up of parasport. That's been driven by Anika Wells," he told the ABC's Insiders.

"There are rules there, and I'm not going to go through each and every one. I've got a big job ... It's completely within the rules.

"There's family reunion entitlements, all the travel that's within the guidelines. She was working and there were announcements and there were events there."

While it may be within guidelines, there is scrutiny about whether the expenses meet community standards.

"If she wants to take her family on a ski holiday, she can pay for it herself," Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson said.

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