Sussan Ley writes to Anthony Albanese to investigate Anika Wells, develop bipartisan plan to review IPEA guidelines

Sussan Ley has offered to meet with Anthony Albanese to develop reforms to parliamentary expense guidelines, amid the fallout of the widening entitlements saga. The Opposition Leader has written to the Prime Minister, requesting a meeting to develop a bipatrisan position on the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) guidelines, while also demanding sports and communications Anika Wells be investigated under the Minsterial Code of Conduct. However, NewsWire understands that at the time of the announcement, the letter has yet to be received by the Prime Minister’s office. It comes after revelations Ms Wells spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in family reunion expenses to take her husband and children to an F1 Grand Prix, three AFL grand finals, and cricket Test matches. Ms Wells has defended her spending as being within IPEA rules, and self-referred her expenditure for independent review. However, the issue has raised questions as to whether the guidelines should be changed to better fit community expectations. The Prime Minister has repeatedly ducked responsibility for the saga and refused to commit to changing the IPEA rules. On Friday, Ms Ley told Sky News Labor was “running a mile from trust, public trust, accountability and not meeting the standard that all Australians would expect of them”. “What minister Anika Wells has done is scandalous, clearly scandalous, and the whole country is reeling from all of the information that they’ve received about what she has done,” she said. “She has not shown an ounce of contrition. She has not stepped up and said sorry, or she understands what struggling Australians are going through. “She hasn’t referred herself to her Prime Minister’s ministerial code of conduct, either, but it is incumbent on the prime minister who trumpeted this code of conduct, who talked about transparency and integrity and new standards.” Ms Ley herself had resigned from her position as health minister over a similar entitlements scandal almost a decade ago. It was an example of herself taking accountability, she said. “I made a mistake. I put my hand up, I apologised to the Australian people, and I held myself accountable to the ministerial code of conduct,” Ms Ley said. “Anika Wells has not done one of those three things, and this Prime Minister has not addressed his ministerial code of conduct that she has clearly breached, nor has he said she should stand aside while this review and any investigation take place.” MP takes swipe at PM Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has taken a brutal swipe at Anthony Albanese, amid the ongoing fallout of the expenses saga. His comments come after the AFR revealed the government twice delayed a formal probe into the entitlements, first until 2026, then to 2027. On Thursday, Mr Albanese clashed with journalists in a tense press conference after being repeatedly grilled on whether he would tighten the rules. “I’m not the finance minister. I haven’t changed the rules,” he said. “[IPEA] were put in place, we certainly would take advice which is there, but I think it’s important, just like the tribunal setting our wages, that I don’t influence that from the top.” Senator Bragg lashed Mr Albanese’s refusal to outwardly support a review of the rules, saying MPs use of travel entitlements had become a “massive integrity issue”. Asked whether he would personally welcome a review, Mr Bragg said: “Of course." I mean, as I say, he’s a very powerful Prime Minister. He’s got massive power. And I think people are starting to see him for who he is,” he said. “He’s very weak and he’s covering up this massive integrity issue. He could fix this.” Independent MP Allegra Spender said it would be “reasonable” to review the rules, to ensure they keep in line with community expectations. “Politics is really hard on families. You know, I’m lucky I live in Sydney, it’s closer than most, but it is really hard on all families,” she said. “So I think there’s a space for things like family reunion, but people want to make sure that you’re getting value for money and that you’re not taking the piss.” Ms Spender believed the Albanese government should also “bring forward one of the reviews that they’ve pushed back”, she said. However, Health Minister Mark Butler later defended the government’s reluctance to influence IPEA by endorsing the authority’s “independence”. “I think the establishment of that body was a good thing because it meant that weren’t setting our own rules and enforcing our own rules,” he told Channel 7. “Having that level of independence hope would give the public some assurance that this that’s reflecting the public interest.” A reasonable balance between the “sensible” use of the rules and entitlements that reflected the “unusual nature” of the job, were important, Mr Butler said. If IPEA chose to make recommendations following the outcome of the self-referred investigation of into Ms Wells’ expenses, he indicated the government would be open to changing the rules. ”As the Prime Minister said yesterday, we would welcome those recommendations and if they have to be enacted through legislation, I’m sure that’s what we would do,” he said.