Albanese, Wells decline to back overhaul of family travel perks for MPs

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dodged questions on whether politicians’ use of family travel perks should be pared back as under-fire Communications and Sport Minister Anika Wells refuses to admit her use of entitlements was a bad look.

Two Coalition MPs, opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh and Simon Kennedy, have called for the rules that govern the family reunion entitlements to be looked at.

Minister for Communications and Minister for Sport Anika Wells and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

After days of reports on Wells using the entitlements to bring relatives to sports events at which she was working as minister for sport, information has come to light showing Greens senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Mehreen Faruqi using the perks to bring family members to music festivals and pro-Palestine rallies.

Albanese conducted a morning broadcast blitz before an event at Kirribilli House to promote the government’s teen social media ban, which comes into effect on Wednesday, but his spruiking of the initiative was complicated by the saga surrounding Wells’ use of taxpayer funds.

The prime minister ducked a series of questions on whether the entitlements system should be reviewed, instead seeking to turn the tables on the Coalition by repeatedly referring to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s controversial use of funds that led to her resignation as health minister in 2017.

“These rules were put in place, of course, under the former government after the now opposition leader travelled to the Gold Coast, and there was the issue of her purchase of real estate, so she ended up having to resign [as health minister], and these rules were put in place,” Albanese said on ABC TV. Ley has not been leading the charge against Wells, leaving the task to her shadow ministers.

Albanese defended the family reunion rules on the basis that they allowed parents with young families to be involved in politics.

“The parliament has changed, and that’s a good thing,” he said. “Minister Wells, for example, has three young children. She gave birth to twins while in office. I think it’s a good thing that parliament is more representative than it used to be. People have a long time away from their families, from their children and from their partners.”

Albanese is the seventh-highest user of family reunion entitlements in the parliament.

Asked on ABC Radio Brisbane if her spending was a bad look despite being within the guidelines, Wells said: “I appreciate there’s been a huge amount of public scrutiny ... and I’ve been happy to answer questions.”

The minister in charge of the social media ban on Tuesday referred her spending to the independent watchdog for an audit, but said she was confident she had done nothing wrong.

“These rules are at arm’s length of parliamentarians they would bet back under the previous government, and I have followed all of the rules. I’m completely confident that all of my travel is within the guidelines,” she said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and given there’s been so much public scrutiny over it, over the past few days, I’ve been happy to refer that to our independent regulator for them to have another look.

“I guess no one expects any forgiveness for the political class. I understand that, and yet I always think about how this is going to look to people when we make decisions about when we use the family travel entitlement.”

McIntosh, Wells’ Coalition counterpart as communications spokeswoman, came under pressure earlier this week for her own travel from Sydney to Queensland in 2023 when she attended work events at the same time as her son, who taxpayers funded to join her on the trip, competed in a judo event.

“Maybe now it is time we do drop this,” McIntosh said on Nine’s Today show on Wednesday morning.

“A lot of Australians don’t begrudge politicians for wanting to spend time with their families, and they deserve to do so. It’s when it appears as though politicians are milking the system that voters get upset.”

Liberal MP Simon Kennedy said on Tuesday that it made sense to limit family flights to economy class, before suggesting the entitlements could be scrapped altogether.

“I have some more radical views on what you could do. I think you could get rid of all [family] travel or gifts,” he told Sky News.

Kennedy said he didn’t want to demonise family travel, but worried such entitlements could encourage people into politics for the wrong reasons.

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