Both major parties find ways to rort the system and make taxpayers pay their private bills. Anika Wells is just the latest MP to be found out. What’s her scam?
When Anika Wells was the Minister for Aged Care, she had oversight of the rules around the new Support at Home program. These new rules require older people to pay a co-contribution for their home care.
As a result, older people who require assistance with showering must pay for this service. Pensioners, for example, will be required to contribute 5 per cent of the cost. If an older person cannot afford the co-payment for a shower, they may need to skip it.
Anika Wells is now Minister for Communications and Sport, and has been found to claim family travel expenses and use her Comcar entitlements to ferry them around to sporting venues (and to attend birthday parties). We can only surmise they paid for their own showers…
Support at Home? First they came for the young people, now they come for the old
Dr Sarah Russell is a public health researcher. She is the Principal Researcher at Research Matters and Chair of Progressives of the Peninsula. She was formerly the Director, Aged Care Matters.