Sports Minister Anika Wells has been ordered to repay more than $10,000 after an independent audit found she incorrectly claimed family travel expenses.
The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) began auditing her travel expenses between 2022 and 2025 in December last year.
After a six-month investigation, the authority found four out of 25 family reunion trips claimed by Wells did not fully comply with the Parliamentary Business Resources Act.
“IPEA has concluded that of the 25 trips undertaken by Ms Wells that included a use of a family reunion travel resource, there were four trips where elements of the travel did not fully satisfy the requirements of the PBR regulations,” the report said.
“These were trips commencing on 13 February 2022, 8 May 2025, 22 September 2025 and 3 October 2025.
“As a result, travel resources to the value of $8,092.89 were required to be recovered, to which a penalty loading of $2,023.22 in accordance with section 38 of the Act was applied.
“Accordingly, Ms Wells was invoiced a total of $10,116.11 in relation to part 2 of the audit.”
One of the trips involved Wells paying for her husband, Finn McCarthy, to travel to Canberra and pick up one of their children who had COVID-19 before returning to Brisbane in February 2022.
Another expense related to flights and a hire car used to attend a swearing-in ceremony in Canberra in May 2025, which fall outside official duty regulations.
The September 2025 breach related to flights for her husband to attend the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne, while the final breach involved the use of a hire car to travel from Toowoomba to a National Rugby League match in Sydney.
Wells said she accepted the findings and had repaid the money.
“These were four cases where I chose what I thought was the more sensible, cheaper option, but those choices were not allowed according to the rules, which I accept and respect,” she said in a statement.
“I accept (Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority) assessment and I am sorry for making these honest mistakes.
“I have repaid the money with a penalty loading.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wells had apologised and repaid the amount.
“Anika Wells has apologised, she has paid back the money as was appropriate,” he said on Friday.
“Anika Wells is a very good minister.”
Opposition frontbencher Angus Taylor said taxpayer money should be treated carefully.
“This is taxpayers money, so it needs to be used with great respect,” he told reporters.
The IPEA report was handed to Wells at the end of April after she referred herself to the authority in December, following reports from Sky News that she and her team went on a taxpayer-funded trip to New York.
Freedom of information documents released by the government later revealed the 2025 trip cost almost $120,000.
The documents showed Wells and her deputy chief of staff initially booked business class flights worth $65,995.68, with later changes linked to the Optus Triple Zero crisis increasing the total airfare cost to $72,592.43.
Additional costs included flights for an assistant secretary for online safety and about $24,000 spent on accommodation and transport.
The minister also faced scrutiny over other expenses, including a dinner in Paris, a trip connected to a friend’s birthday in Adelaide and a ski trip to Thredbo, though those were not found to have breached the rules.
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