Labour Minister Anika Wells is facing renewed scrutiny over a taxpayer-funded trip to Adelaide that coincided with a close friend's birthday party. The Communications and Sports Minister was in Adelaide on Saturday, June 7, for official engagements, including a meeting with South Australian Health Minister Chris Picton on the same night his wife, Connie Blefari, celebrated her 40th birthday.
Official diary entries indicate that Wells met with a representative from Trade Minister Don Farrell's office before a later meeting with Picton in the lead-up to the party. However, Wells later informed the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) that the meeting with Picton had been 'delayed'. 'We instead held a sideline meeting during a function later that evening,' she said, adding that her official duties concluded at 7.45pm. That evening function turned out to be Blefari's 40th birthday party, a close friend of Wells.
The IPEA concluded that because the meeting with Picton at the birthday party constituted parliamentary business, it was a 'reasonable' excuse for Wells to remain overnight. Wells has repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether the official meetings were planned before or after she was invited to the birthday party, or whether the IPEA asked that question.
The birthday party was held at the upscale Jade venue. Despite the IPEA's ruling, the trip has become a target of ridicule in parliament. Liberal MP Mary Aldred used Question Time to mock Wells, asking: 'In which room at the live music venue, The Jade, did the Minister hold her sideline meeting while at the 40th birthday party of her close personal friend — the bar, the garden kiosk, or the room with the pinball machine?' The remark drew laughter in the chamber.
Wells quickly hit back, stating: 'As I have said to her on two previous occasions, I've given a full account of that to the IPA. There is a full report available published online, and you can refer there for the full account of the trip, which was considered completely within the rules.'
The Sports and Communications Minister was ordered by the IPEA to repay $10,116 after a five-month audit, released last Friday, found four breaches of parliamentary travel rules across multiple trips between 2022 and 2025. Wells has faced mounting scrutiny since December, when it was revealed she spent $90,000 on a trip to New York to promote the government's controversial social media ban. The controversy later widened to include a series of taxpayer-funded trips involving members of her family.
Among the expenses, Wells spent $7,000 flying her husband, Finn McCarthy — a highly paid lobbyist for insurance giant Suncorp — to three AFL grand finals at taxpayers' expense. She also charged taxpayers almost $1,000 for a chauffeur for seven hours on the day she attended the Australian Open in 2023, and more than $1,200 for nine hours on the day of the NRL and NRLW grand finals in 2022, according to the parliamentary expenses register.
The minister also spent $3,000 on flights and allowances for her husband and children to join her at Thredbo in June 2024 while she attended meetings with Paralympics Australia and Adaptive Festival organisers. In another extraordinary expense, the minister had a secure communications facility installed in her electorate office in October 2024 while serving as Sports and Aged Care Minister — despite a similar facility already being available about a 20-minute drive away.
The opposition has raised questions about why taxpayers funded seven trips to Canberra for Mr McCarthy, given he works for Suncorp Group as a government affairs manager — a role the company describes as 'leading engagement with key government stakeholders'. 'This is a Minister who has shown a constant disregard for taxpayers' money since the moment she became a minister and has failed to answer serious questions about her abuse of family travel entitlements,' said a spokesperson. 'Regardless of the way Labor try to spin and bury this one… between her lobbyist husband flying around on the taxpayer dime or Air Miles Anika conducting a meeting at a boozy birthday bash, in no circumstance does this pass the pub test.'
A spokesman for Wells said that Mr McCarthy travelled as the minister's spouse in accordance with the rules, adding: 'During those times he did not undertake any work for his employer.' Under the Parliamentary Business Resources framework, MPs and ministers can claim expenses for travel, accommodation and family reunion travel — but only if the spending is primarily for 'parliamentary business'. Ministers can claim certain family travel costs if the trip is considered necessary to support 'family life' while carrying out parliamentary duties. Trips involving official events, parliamentary sittings, stakeholder meetings or ministerial duties can qualify under the rules.
