Sports Minister Anika Wells left out of MPs trip to World Cup as pressure mounts over series of  expenses claims: 'It says everything - toxic'

By NICHOLAS COMINO, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 15:43, 11 June 2026 | Updated: 15:43, 11 June 2026 Sports Minister Anika Wells will not attend the FIFA World Cup, despite Football Australia inviting a bipartisan group of MPs to travel to the United States this weekend. The Daily Mail can confirm Wells will be absent from the premier event on the 2026 sporting calendar - something that would once be considered unthinkable for her prior to her expenses scandal late last year.  She previously attended the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha - issuing a media release where she crowed about how she would be 'cheering the Socceroos to glory' - the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and 2024 Paris Olympics. Instead, five federal MPs will be attending the 'greatest show on Earth' as guests for Football Australia - with the peak sporting body covering a full week of travel and hospitality, and no taxpayer funds spent.  Labor's Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale will lead the delegation and is the only Labor representative attending. He will be joined by four Liberal MPs: Senators Anne Ruston and Richard Colbeck, along with Grey MP Tom Venning and Cook MP Simon Kennedy. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Laxale confirmed his participation and said corporate leaders would also join the trip. 'Football Australia is running a corporate and bi-partisan parliamentary delegation for the FIFA World Cup, which I will be attending along with a number of my Federal Liberal parliamentary colleagues,' he said. 'I welcome the opportunity to engage with elected officials from Canada and the US, talk trade across key industries, and of course support the Socceroos.' Venning also confirmed that he had already planned to be in the United States at the time, to attend a wedding, stressing he would be paying out of his own pocket. Sports Minister Anika Wells (left) frequently attended overseas sporting events prior to her expenses scandal. Above, with Jacinda Ardern and senior FIFA officials in 2022 Wells (pictured) has previously attended a number of international events as Sports Minister 'My partner and I will be in the USA for a wedding with family, which gave me the chance to catch one game with the delegation. All flights and expenses are self-funded.'  Senator Colbeck also confirmed he was attending, saying he would be taking part in 'official events' throughout the visit.   'This is a significant event and it will be an honour to see the Socceroos represent Australia on the world stage. All travel and accommodation expenses have been personally funded,' he told Daily Mail.  Peter van Onselen, Daily Mail political editor and commentator, said: 'Does Australia really need five federal MPs at the World Cup? Of course not.  'This is exactly the sort of junket adjacent political theatre that voters can't stand. Meanwhile, he added, 'the fact Anika Wells isn't going says everything. Before her multiple expenses scandals, she'd have been there with bells on, probably with her whole family in tow funded by taxpayers.  'Instead, she's nowhere to be seen because even she knows the optics are toxic.'  Wells has largely stepped back from major international sporting events since her expenses controversy in late 2025.  The FIFA World Cup starts on Thursday. It is being hosted in North America across Canada, Mexico, and the United States Laxale (pictured) will attend the FIFA World Cup as a guest of FFA, at no taxpayer expense She then dodged several major summer fixtures she has historically frequented, including the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne or the Ashes matches in Sydney and Brisbane. Wells was also absent from the Australian Open, where she has previously been a prominent presence across multiple days, including semi-final matches.  It emerged last year that since becoming minister, taxpayers have funded a series of trips and events involving Wells and her lobbyist husband, Finn McCarthy, covering flights and related expenses. Wells billed about $7,000 for McCarthy to attend three AFL grand finals, and claimed nearly $3,000 for a family trip to Thredbo, where she said she was working at a Paralympics event while her husband and children went skiing. Tennis Australia also provided the pair with Australian Open finals tickets, while taxpayers covered a $958 chauffeur-driven COMCAR booked for more than seven hours. She claimed flights for both herself and McCarthy to the 2022 and 2024 Boxing Day Tests, charging taxpayers $1,885 and $984 respectively for his same-day return travel under 'family reunion' entitlements. Wells also billed nearly $1,800 for the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix last year after receiving four complimentary tickets from Motorsport Australia. Across her tenure, she has declared tickets for herself and McCarthy to AFL, NRL and NRLW grand finals, as well as an Oasis concert at Sydney's Accor Stadium on November 8. She has also drawn scrutiny for billing hundreds of dollars for short COMCAR trips across Canberra. Liberal Senator Anne Ruston (pictured) will be attending the FIFA World Cup with the FFA   Tom Venning (pictured) said he would attend a Socceroos game while in the US for a wedding Richard Colbeck (pictured) confirmed his attendance of the World Cup, at no taxpayer expense Simon Kennedy (pictured) is also understood to be attending as part of the delegation  One recent journey of about 3km from Parkes to Kingston cost $337, while another trip of just 2.3km came to $329. A five-month audit by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority found four breaches of travel rules across trips between 2022 and 2025 and ordered Wells to repay $10,116. Despite the breaches, the regulator cleared her of wrongdoing. 'The independent watchdog declared all the trips were in accordance with the rules,' a spokesperson for Wells previously told the Daily Mail. Daily Mail contacted Anne Ruston and Simon Kennedy for comment.  No comments have so far been submitted. 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