Small Business Minister Anne Aly racks up $150,000 taxpayer-funded travel bill as Aussie businesses struggle to stay afloat
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Small Business Minister Anne Aly has faced criticism after expenditure records showed she spent more than $150,000 on overseas travel across nine countries in 17 months. Opposition senator James Paterson said the number and cost of the trips were excessive while Australian small businesses were struggling, and argued the country needed a minister focused on their concerns.
The records cover four trips from June to November 2025, totalling 27 days abroad. They included a week in Spain costing $42,907, a visit to Indonesia costing $18,649, and a five-day trip to India and Bangladesh costing $34,517; Aly said her responsibilities in small business, multicultural affairs and international development are connected. The criticism comes amid business concerns over rules ending card surcharges from 1 October and a delayed plan to stop the tax office accepting credit card payments for tax debts.
- Anne Aly’s overseas travel cost taxpayers more than $150,000.
- Four trips covered nine countries in 27 days.
- Aly defended the travel as linked to her ministerial roles.
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Anne Aly is the federal minister responsible for small business, as well as multicultural affairs and international development. Ministers sometimes travel overseas for government work, and the costs are paid from public funds.
Small businesses are also facing changes to payment rules. From 1 October, businesses will no longer be able to charge customers extra for paying by card, while a separate plan to end credit card payments for tax debts has been delayed.
The debate is about how a minister’s travel duties relate to the needs of Australian businesses. Opposition senator James Paterson has questioned the cost and frequency of the trips, while Aly says her ministerial responsibilities are connected.
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The case for
International travel can be part of a minister’s job, especially where small business, multicultural affairs and international development overlap; meetings abroad may build trade links and help represent Australian businesses and communities. The costs and itinerary should therefore be judged against the work undertaken and its outcomes, rather than the total alone.
The case against
More than $150,000 in travel over 17 months, including 27 days abroad in the records described, reasonably invites scrutiny when small businesses face pressing domestic concerns. Critics can argue that the minister should prioritise engagement at home and show clearly that each trip’s cost and time away produced benefits proportionate to public expense.
Full account
Australian Small Business Minister Anne Aly is facing criticism over taxpayer-funded overseas travel reported to have cost more than A$150,000. According to the expenditure figures cited in the first report, she visited nine countries over a 17-month period. Four trips between June and November 2025 accounted for 27 days abroad. Those journeys were undertaken in her responsibilities for international development and multicultural affairs, prompting a dispute over how much time a small business minister should spend overseas while businesses face financial pressure at home.
The reported destinations were Spain, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. A week in Spain cost A$42,907.20 and included the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville and the signing of an agreement with the Spanish Government on co-operation in gender equality. A visit to Indonesia focused on development assistance programmes cost A$18,649, while a five-day trip to India and Bangladesh cost A$34,516.74. Disclosures for a later journey to Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE included almost A$4,000 for accommodation and meals. The supplied account does not provide a complete breakdown of the reported A$150,000 total.
Opposition senator James Paterson said ministers sometimes need to travel internationally, but argued that Aly’s travel was excessive when small businesses were under strain. He also criticised government tax and regulatory policies affecting the sector. Aly rejected the suggestion that her portfolios were disconnected. She said she had owned a small business and argued that small business, multicultural affairs and international development were closely linked in Australia’s economy. The material supplied does not establish that any of her travel claims breached expenses rules; the dispute concerns the cost and priorities of the journeys.
The second supplied report covers a separate expenses controversy involving Communications Minister Anika Wells. It says searches found no records of two meetings Wells cited in connection with a taxpayer-funded Adelaide trip that also included a friend’s birthday party. One minister’s office nevertheless confirmed that a meeting took place, and the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority accepted Wells’s account of her travel. That case adds context to scrutiny of ministerial expenses, but its claims and documentary questions do not provide evidence about Aly’s trips.
Where outlets differ
The first report focuses on Aly’s overseas travel, its cost and its relevance to her portfolios. The second concerns Wells’s Adelaide trip and whether meetings cited in connection with it were documented; it does not independently report on Aly.
The first report describes visits to nine countries but also quotes Paterson referring to ‘nine trips’. Its detailed account identifies four overseas trips between June and November 2025, so those figures should not be treated as interchangeable.