Anika Wells at the 2025 AFL Grand Final. Her response to the controversy has hardly been best on ground. Photo: Anika Wells Instagram.
“I don’t write these rules” and “I don’t hold a hose, mate” are two separate phrases, delivered by two opposing politicians, at two different times – but which spark very similar gut reactions from the general public.
It was former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison who enriched the Australian lexicon with the charming “I don’t hold a hose, mate” while trying to explain why, as PM, he was holidaying in Hawaii with his family while the nation burned in the 2019 Black Summer bushfires.
It was a stupid thing to say. An off-the-cuff remark while fumbling to offer an excuse for something that was quite inexcusable.
And it betrayed a sentiment of superiority, as well as a cavalier attitude towards his own actions.
The backlash was immediate and awful for the then-prime minister.
No one in punter land was going to take that level of disrespect lying down.
And as history recorded, the words that have variously been attributed to Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and even John Howard, were again proved correct – that Australian voters get it right.
Morrison was ousted from office in 2022, thanks in no small part to that ridiculous comment over the bushfires and his holiday.
A few years on, and we have heard the current Labor Communications and Sports Minister, Anika Wells, utter a line during a media interview that has just plain irked the electorate.
Her ‘offence’ can’t really be compared to Morrison’s, but her response certainly can.
“I don’t write these rules,” is not a phrase that expresses any degree of regret, empathy or real-world understanding.
Instead, it reeks of exploitation and a ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude.
These are Ms Wells’ exact words, in context, as she tried to explain why a few thousand dollars of taxpayers’ money was spent bringing her family to Thredbo for a ski trip.
“Every parliamentarian has family reunion entitlement, which I follow,” she told Sky News on Sunday (7 December).
“I followed the guidelines on this occasion. I followed the guidelines on all of the occasions. I will continue to do that.
“Entitlements should be scrutinised. I’m happy for mine to be scrutinised.
“I’m happy for mine to continue to be scrutinised. But at the end of the day, I don’t write these rules.”
Those last few words let everyone know that while, yes, the minister was operating within the guidelines, they are guidelines she believes are there to be exploited, and that she’s okay with that.
Wells is not by any measure the only federal MP on either side of politics to be making the most of parliament’s generous rules.
The current focus on her was sparked by how much taxpayer money she spent to get to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September – $94,827 for her and two staff to fly business class, to be exact.
Her dismissing that as within the rules has led to greater scrutiny of her use of public money and continues to reveal a string of outlays that paint a picture of a Federal Minister with perhaps a too-flippant air of entitlement.
It is overshadowing this week’s start to the social media ban for under-16s, which she should be out and about promoting.
That is a good initiative and one to be applauded, but whenever the minister pops her head up, the only issue will be her expenses.
The Coalition is going hard (and why wouldn’t they?) in comparing the outlandish life of a Labor Minister to regular Aussie battlers trying to make ends meet and pay their energy bills.
Shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh pretty much summed it up on Monday when asked that old cliched question as to whether Ms Wells’ spending so much taxpayer money passed the pub test.
“The minister’s spending, the question of passing the pub test, I think that horse bolted quite some time ago,” she said.
“I don’t begrudge the minister for wanting to spend time with her children; it is a very tough job to be away from your family.
“But, people, Australians would love to go to the Formula 1 or to the AFL Grand Final, or indeed any of these big sporting events, but they just can’t afford it.
“And we are in a cost-of-living crisis, and it’s beyond the pub test.”
What actually fails the test is not really the spending – there will always be outrage over taxpayers’ money being seemingly wasted – it’s the minister’s response in saying she doesn’t make the rules.
Scott Morrison had the good sense (albeit too late for him) to acknowledge later that his ‘hold the hose’ comment was a step too far and that he shouldn’t have said it.
We are yet to see any such signs of self-awareness from Minister Wells.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
