Albanese, Wells no-shows at the SCG for McGrath Foundation high tea

2 months ago 7

By John Buckley

January 6, 2026 — 11.53am

Over the past two decades, Australian prime ministers have become reliable guests of the McGrath Foundation’s high tea, the high-powered annual fundraiser on day three of the Pink Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is one of two glaring omissions from those who showed at Tuesday’s function.

Albanese, along with his Communications and Sport Minister Anika Wells, steered clear of the SCG, amid mounting pressure on Labor to launch a federal inquiry into last month’s Bondi Beach terror attack. Instead, Albanese travelled to flood-ravaged far north Queensland.

Anthony Albanese at the Pink Test last year.

The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on his absence. Wells, meanwhile, didn’t even respond to requests for comment.

Albanese would not have had to look far for a reason to avoid the SCG on Tuesday. He only had to think back to the immeasurable failure of his predecessor, Scott Morrison, to read the mood of the nation in 2020, as large sections of the community were engulfed in flames.

The absence of the federal sports minister, though, is a little more intriguing. It was only weeks before the Bondi massacre that Wells was at the centre of a rolling expenses scandal that showed no signs of abating, after she failed to properly explain why she billed taxpayers almost $100,000 for flights to New York for last year’s UN General Assembly.

Flying the pink flag

In place of Albanese and Wells, federal Health Minister Mark Butler is set to show face on behalf of the government, along with NSW Premier Chris Minns and federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. They will be joined by Governor-General Sam Mostyn and NSW governor Margaret Beazley, among other notables and players’ partners.

Ley and Mostyn were perched at the ground early during the first session, courtesy of Cricket Australia. In the Cricket NSW box next door, hosted by John Knox – the former Credit Suisse executive and husband of failed Wentworth Liberal candidate Ro Knox – sat a string of other influentials and aspirants.

Among them were former prime minister and cricket tragic John Howard, NSW Labor MPs Jo Haylen and Julia Finn, and former Australian opener Shane Watson. For lunch: a humble cucumber salad and kingfish crudo to start, followed by a beef tenderloin and Murray cod.

Over in the Sheridan suite on the other side of the ground, a string of notables started to trickle in before lunch. Former NSW premiers Barry O’Farrell and Maurice Iemma got there early, as did former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy Turnbull. Also perched in the box was former ABC chairman Maurice Newman, better known these days for his backing of Australian Digital Holdings, which last year held talks with Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead, over a possible tilt at the company’s radio assets, which include 2GB.

More to come

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