Altered image of Australian minister in Gucci suit draws vitriol on social media
- Published on May 6, 2026 at 10:56
- 2 min read
- By Dene-Hern CHEN, AFP Australia
Australia's Communications Minister Anika Wells was in hot water following reports that a work trip to New York had cost more than Aus$100,000 (US$72,460), but posts claiming she wore a Gucci suit to parliament use an altered image. Her office told AFP the circulating image is a "fake". It appears to have been created using a photo of her wearing a white suit in parliament in October 2025.
"Have a look at this!! This was parliament a few weeks ago, Anika Wells on just an average Tuesday, but check out the outfit," says part of the caption of a Facebook image shared on May 3, 2026.
The image, which was shared more than 300 times, appears to show Wells wearing a gold Gucci suit, a heavy necklace and rings while sitting in parliament. Next to her appears to be a Louis Vuitton handbag.
"You're looking at $50 grand -- minimum!... But she needed to bill us for her kids to fly to Thredbo?" the caption continues, referring to an Australian ski resort.
The post taps into criticism directed at the communications minister since it was revealed that her travel expenses for a three-day work trip to New York in September 2025 were over Aus$100,000 (archived link).
According to ABC News, flights initially booked for Wells and her deputy totalled nearly Aus$68,000 -- but last-minute changes to the itinerary due to the minister having to deal with a network outage affecting emergency services added an additional Aus$7,000 (archived link).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the cost of Wells' trip to New York, where she was promoting Australia's under-16 social media ban -- the world's first -- at the United Nations.
Wells was also put under the spotlight over her use of Aus$3,000 in taxpayer-funded family reunion entitlements when her family joined her at Thredbo in June 2025. Wells was there attending an official event in her capacity as sports minister (archived link).
According to the ABC, taxpayers were charged Aus$1.1 million in the previous financial year for family travel expenses of senators and federal MPs (archived link). The three top-spending politicians were from different parties, and Wells was not within the top 20 ranking.
Many months later, the issue continues to be a lightning rod for criticism of Albanese's centre-left government and Labor Party.
The circulating image was shared in several anti-Labor Facebook groups and in X posts.
"All paid by the tax payer. Rotten woman," reads a comment on one of the posts.
Another belittled Wells by calling her one of Albanese's "DEI women appointments".
But the image is "fake", a spokesperson with the minister's office told AFP on May 5.
A reverse image search on Google found the image appears to have been cropped from a larger version shared by a frequent critic of the Labor government on X on May 2.
A subsequent reverse image search using this larger picture led to a similar photo published by Australian broadcaster ABC in an October 8, 2025 article, which shows Wells wearing a white suit in parliament (archived link).
The spokesperson with the minister's office told AFP the white suit was indeed what Wells had worn to parliament.
AFP has previously debunked misleading claims targeting Labor Party officials.
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