Minister for Communications Anika Wells repays over $10,000 in travel expenses after parliamentary audit

Wells has paid back $10,116 to taxpayers, $8,093 in wrongly declared expenses and a fine of $2,023, according to audit documents published by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA).

One of the declared trips took place in February 2022, while the rest took place between May and October 2025.

“The audit found that over four years of travel, which involved nearly 250 separate trips, I made four errors,” Wells said.

“These were four cases where I chose what I thought was the wisest and cheaper option, but those choices were not allowed by the rules, which I accept and respect.

“I accept IPEA’s assessment and I am sorry I made these honest mistakes.”

Wells pocketed the public purse with $94,828.75 on round-trip flights for himself and two staffers to attend the United Nations General Assembly in early September.

It was later revealed that Wells had also flown her husband Finn McCarthy to several cricket events, including two Boxing Day Test matches, and recorded the expenditure of $4,000 under the Commonwealth’s family reunification provision.

The IPEA ruled that the trip to New York and the Boxing Day Test matches were appropriate travel expense claims.

When asked about the cost of the trip to New York during a National Press Club speech, Wells said her office had been “transparent” about the flights.

“The reason you know all these things is because we are transparent about them, we will make them public and we will continue to make them public and we will continue to release information about that trip through the usual processes,” Wells said at the time.

She later defended the cricket-related flights, saying “every parliamentarian has the right to family reunification”.

Speaking to reporters in Melbourne, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wells had paid back the money.

“We have IPEA. We have an independent parliamentary expenditure authority, which is in charge of this,” Albanese said.

“She referred to it herself, which was appropriate, and it was appropriate that she refunded the money.

“That happened and she repaid the money in accordance with the rules.”

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