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A senior federal minister is defending her taxpayer-funded trips as being within government guidelines, as new details emerge about other costs and the Coalition pushes for an independent review.
Anika Wells came under fire for the $100,000 cost of flying herself and three staff to New York to promote Australia’s social media age ban, with further details emerging about trips she took to Paris, Thredbo and Adelaide.
She accepted the spending would elicit a “gut reaction” in the average Australian, but said it was an independent agency booking flights, rather than her browsing “Webjet”.
In September, Wells intended to fly to New York aboard Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Royal Air Force jet, but his plans were disrupted due to the repercussions from a severe Optus emergency services outage.
