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.

On Monday, the Nine newspapers reported Wells had used family travel entitlements – available to all MPs to help politicians stay connected with their families – to fly her husband from Brisbane to Melbourne for the Boxing Day cricket Test in 2022 and 2024.

Mea

See Full Page