More than half-a-dozen Victorian Liberal and National Party MPs collectively claimed over $65,000 in taxpayer-funded interstate and overseas travel this parliamentary term — only to announce their retirements from politics shortly after returning home. The revelations have prompted Opposition Leader Jess Wilson to pledge a significant overhaul of travel entitlements if the Coalition wins November's state election.
The $8,635 New York and Hong Kong trip that raised eyebrows
Among the most scrutinised cases is that of former treasurer Kim Wells, the backbench member for Rowville, who completed a 12-night taxpayer-funded trip to New York and Hong Kong costing Victorian taxpayers $8,635 — and then announced his retirement just five days after touching down in Victoria.
According to his travel disclosure, Wells listed his purpose for visiting New York as investigating "several areas relevant to my electorate business and work as a parliamentarian." His stated plans included meetings with law enforcement figures to discuss antisemitism, and a visit to the Hudson Yards development to compare it with a proposed Melbourne urban project. However, his meeting with a Hudson Yards representative "didn't go ahead due to issues," his report noted.
Wells had also planned to visit Old Mates Pub, a Manhattan bar part-owned by Australian television personalities Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, alongside former Liberal colleague Sam Groth. That meeting also fell through — Wells noted in his report that it was "cancelled as Sam is unavailable." From New York, Wells flew to Hong Kong for four nights to meet with the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
On September 14, 2025 — just five days after returning — Wells announced on social media he would not contest the November 2026 election, citing conversations with family and supporters.
A pattern across the Coalition benches
Wells is not the only retiring Coalition figure to have used travel entitlements before stepping aside. Sam Groth, the then-member for Nepean, undertook a nine-night trip to the United States in August 2025 — less than four months before his own early exit from the Victorian parliament — at a cost to taxpayers of $11,153. Groth's departure came ahead of the November sitting period.
An analysis of travel disclosures found the pattern was largely absent on the other side of the chamber: the vast majority of state Labor MPs who have declared they will leave politics at the November election made no interstate or international travel claims during the past four years.
Sources with knowledge of internal party matters say more retiring Coalition MPs have taxpayer-funded trips planned before November — though one senior Liberal figure, speaking anonymously, cautioned that Wilson's proposed policy had not been through shadow cabinet or the party room and was "unlikely to be supported."
Wilson vows to scrap international travel allowance for MPs
Faced with the disclosures, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has committed to eliminating the international travel allowance for backbench MPs if the Coalition wins the state election on November 28.
"The international travel allowance is inconsistent with community expectations and if elected premier, I will scrap it," Wilson said, pledging to treat taxpayer money "with respect."
Under the proposed changes, Victorian MPs would retain the ability to use their allowance for domestic travel, while overseas travel by ministers — funded through government departments — would remain at the premier's discretion. The policy would not apply to ministerial travel, which operates under a separate funding structure.
The controversy arrives at a politically sensitive moment, with Victorians heading to the polls in late November and cost-of-living pressures making taxpayer-funded perks a live electoral issue. Whether Wilson can turn the pledge into binding policy — particularly given internal resistance — remains to be seen. For now, a cancelled pub visit and a stand-up at Hudson Yards have become symbols of a broader debate about how departing MPs spend their final entitlements.
