Representative Anika Wells Contact information

Anika Shay Wells is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2019 federal election, representing the Division of Lilley in Queensland. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and currently holds the position of Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport.

Wells was born in Brisbane in 1985, and her father was born in Melbourne, while her mother was born in New Zealand. As a result, she held New Zealand citizenship by descent until February 2018, when she renounced it to stand for parliament. Wells graduated from Moreton Bay College and holds arts and law degrees from Griffith University, as well as a graduate diploma in legal practice from the Australian National University.

Prior to entering politics, Wells worked as an adviser to the federal government for five years. She was admitted to practise law in 2012 and joined Maurice Blackburn in 2014 as a compensation lawyer, where she worked on a number of cases related to immigration detention.

In March 2018, Wells won Labor preselection for the Division of Lilley, replacing the retiring member Wayne Swan. She won the seat at the 2019 federal election despite a five-point swing against the ALP on the two-party-preferred count. At the time, Wells was Australia’s youngest female MP at 34.

Wells served on the “Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia,” which delivered its interim report in December 2020. In the May 2022 federal election, Wells emerged with a first preference swing toward Labor of 6.48 per cent, which led to her elevation to the ministry. She is a member of Queensland’s Labor Right and the party’s rules on affirmative action meant Blair MP Shayne Neumann was relegated to the backbench after serving on the shadow frontbench. On 31 May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his ministry, and Wells was named Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport.

Wells is married to Finn and has three children, a daughter and twin sons born in 2020.