“There are family reunion entitlements available. All of the travel was within guidelines,” he said.

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On Monday, fellow frontbencher Tanya Plibersek defended Wells’ use of family reunion on Nine’s Today.

“There are so many weekends away from home, and if you’re sports minister, a lot of those are very deliberately weekend events that you’re required to attend because that’s when people watch sport. That’s when people play sport. She was in Thredbo to highlight the extra investment we’re making in the Paralympics.”

It can now be revealed that during the 2022-23 Test cricket series against South Africa, Wells charged taxpayers for family reunion flights on December 26, so McCarthy could fly between Brisbane and Melbourne in one day. The two flights cost $1885.29. Wells also received three free corporate tickets from Cricket Australia to attend the match.

In the 2023-24 season against Pakistan, Wells received only one free ticket to attend the Boxing Day Test. She did not charge taxpayers for her husband to fly to Melbourne that year.

However, taxpayers were hit just a few days later, when Wells spent another $1274.72 for two more family reunion flights between Brisbane and Sydney, on January 1, so McCarthy could join her at Albanese’s reception for the Australian and Pakistani teams at Kirribilli House.

During the 2024-25 season, Wells charged taxpayers for reunion flights that cost $983.82 so that McCarthy could fly return from Brisbane to Melbourne to join her at the MCG on December 26. On this occasion, the couple were guests of Cricket Australia.

The total cost to taxpayers for all flights was $4183.83 over three years, according to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority website, and on all three occasions, the sports minister and her husband had been together for just one day.

The MCG charges as much as $995 per person for a seat in a corporate box, which means the potential value of the six free tickets from Cricket Australia could be nearly $6000.

Sports ministers and their opposition counterparts frequently attend high-profile sporting events as guests of sporting organisations, and their attendance at these events is in keeping with the “dominant purpose” test, which is applied to whether an MP’s travel is appropriate.

Wells has also declared that the hospitality she received from Cricket Australia is in line with the rules of parliament’s register of members’ interests.

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Wells under pressure as social media ban looms

Wells has been under pressure since last week following revelations that taxpayers paid more than $100,000 for her, a staffer and a public servant to fly to New York to showcase Australia’s social media ban.

It then emerged she had claimed $3600 in travel entitlements for trips to Adelaide, where she attended a friend’s birthday party as well as conducting official business; three trips to France in one year as sports minister at a combined cost $116,000, and the $2845.50 Thredbo family reunion.

A government spokesman said: “The travel was in accordance with guidelines and in capacity as minister for sport.“

The spokesman did not answer questions about why Wells needed to have three one-day reunions with her husband, whether the minister would repay any of the expenses claimed, or whether the trips met community expectations.

The minister’s use of family reunion flights is similar to an Uluru trip that current Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke took in 2012, while environment minister, when he charged taxpayers close to $9000 so his wife and children could join him.

Burke’s claim was also within the rules, but when details of the trip emerged in 2015, he did say the trip was “beyond community expectations” and, in 2020, he paid the costs back.

Shadow special minister of state Alex Hawke said Wells’ defence of her expenses did not stack up and that “when you look at the expenses of Anika Wells, whether it’s New York, whether it’s Paris, whether it’s Thredbo, these are expenses that would make the royals blush”.

Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson echoed Hawke’s criticism and said Wells’ travel and entitlement usage “failed the kitchen table test”.

“She’s a minister who is not just out of touch with Australians, but she’s out of touch with reality,” Paterson said.

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