REVEALED: The staggering amount of YOUR money Communications Minister Anika Wells blew on a ‘whirlwind’ three-day trip to New York – as she is slammed for ‘lavish’ spending during a national crisis

 

• Communications Minister Anika Wells spent almost $100k on a 3-day NYC trip

• The bill included eye-watering business class flights for herself and two staffers

• She jetted off to discuss the social media ban during the Optus Triple Zero crisis

• Shadow Minister Melissa McIntosh branded the visit a ‘lavish PR trip’

Communications Minister Anika Wells has been accused of stinging the public purse after it was revealed she splashed nearly $100,000 of taxpayer money on a fleeting three-day visit to New York City.

Shocking documents released at Senate estimates expose the exorbitant costs of the trip, which took place in early September for the United Nations General Assembly.

Despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong already being in attendance to represent Australia, Ms Wells flew over to spruik the government’s impending ban on social media for under-16s.

The breakdown of costs has sparked fury, revealing that a total of $94,828.75 was spent on return flights alone for the Minister and just two staff members.

Ms Wells’ own ticket cost the taxpayer $34,426.58.

However, her Deputy Chief of Staff’s flights were even more expensive, coming in at a staggering $38,165.86, while her Assistant Secretary for Online Safety flew for $22,236.31.

On top of the sky-high airfares, the trio racked up approximately $22,296 on accommodation and transport while navigating the Big Apple.

The timing of the ‘whirlwind’ trip has drawn sharp criticism, as it coincided with the catastrophic Optus Triple Zero outage.

Ms Wells had been scheduled to fly earlier alongside the Prime Minister but was delayed by several days to manage the fallout of the telecommunications failure. However, critics argue she should not have left the country at all.

Shadow Minister for Communications Melissa McIntosh didn’t mince her words, slamming the excursion as nothing more than a “PR trip.”

“She should never have left her post during the Triple Zero crisis,” Ms McIntosh said.

“As the crisis continued to unfold, the minister was holding a lavish event in New York. An event where the bill for over $73,000 was footed by the minister’s communications department, also known as the Australian taxpayer.”

Ms McIntosh was referring to a specific event hosted by the Australian government in New York regarding digital safety for children, which reportedly cost an estimated $69,500.

“While families back in Australia are left wondering how the minister will actually make the under-16s social media ban work… the minister and her staff spent over $72,000 on flights to spruik its success to the UN,” McIntosh added.

When grilled about the exorbitant costs during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Ms Wells defended the expenditure, insisting her office had been “transparent.”

“The reason you know all those things is we’re transparent about them,” Ms Wells said.

“We’ll disclose them and we’ll continue to disclose them and we’ll continue to disclose information about that trip through the usual processes.”

She claimed the trip was vital for generating international support for online safety reform.

“That event fuelled a global momentum in this space, you have seen a number of different jurisdictions come out from that moment… to announce they’re going to do exactly what Australia is doing.”