Queensland MP Anika Wells ambushed on live radio by tiny culprit while discussing gender pay gap

A Queensland federal MP has fallen victim to the perils of working from home, ambushed during a live radio interview.

Queensland MP Anika Wells has publicly fallen victim to the perils of working from home, ambushed during a live radio interview by one her children.

The federal Member for Lilley was speaking to ABC Radio Brisbane’s Rebecca Levingston about the gender pay gap on Wednesday morning when her phone was seemingly snatched away and the call cut off.

After being reconnected, host Levingston asked if it had been a “small child’s hand that had just reached up and hung up”.

“The secret will remain between you and me Rebecca, and your many listeners,” Ms Wells said.

The Courier-Mail has since confirmed the little culprit was 10-month-old Dash, one-half of Ms Wells’ “quarantwins”.

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Dash, the son of Member for Lilley Anika Wells. Dash likes to grab phones and has pretty good aim. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

The Brisbane-based MP, like many of her colleagues, has been joining the parliamentary sittings remotely due to the ACT lockdown and consequent border restrictions in Queensland.

Just seconds earlier Levingston had asked the first-term MP what it was like juggling motherhood with a fresh set of twins and being a politician.

Ms Wells commented that the boys, Ossian and Dashiell, were now crawling and making life “increasingly hectic”.

“Hectic on an exponential scale,” she said.

Ms Wells also has a daughter, Celeste.

Anika Wells with her twins Ossian and Dashiell before Question Time in Parliament House in Canberra.

The incident is the latest in a series of on-air working-from-home fails around the world, including this week when a New Zealand minister was being interviewed by Radio Samoa when her son interrupted the video call brandishing a phallic carrot.

New data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency found the national gender pay gap had worsened in the last six months, widening from 13.8 per cent to 14.2 per cent.

This means women would have to work an extra 61 days to take home the same annual pay packet as their male counterpart.

Agency director Mary Wooldridge said the increase in the pay gap was concerning and served as a warning to ensure continued focus, effort and commitment to drive it back down again.

“Equal Pay Day is an ideal opportunity to remind employers around the country that one of the key levers of change is through gender pay audits,” she said.

“These audits help employers identify and address discriminatory pay, to ensure that women are equally compensated and valued.”