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During the first seven days of her trip, Jaunzeme-Grende stayed at a five-star hotel in downtown Adelaide, but then moved to a more expensive beach hotel for the remaining three nights. The minister explained the change in hotels due to her work schedule, that some of the official events that she attended was closer to this specific hotel.

Looking more closely at a detailed map of Adelaide, the LNT news program came to the conclusion that the minister's explanations are unreasonable, as the place where the official events took place were actually in a completely different direction to where her hotel was located. Furthermore, the beach-side hotel was more expensive – a night in the downtown Adelaide hotel cost approximately LVL 90, while a night at the beach hotel cost approximately LVL 161 per night.

As reported, during her two-week business trip to Australia, Jaunzeme-Grende was accompanied by her husband, Ants Grende.

The Culture Ministry informed that Grende covered his expenses, however, several sources indicate that he made use of the opportunity to stay at a hotel room paid for by the state.

According to the Culture Ministry, the minister's trip cost LVL 3,900.

On Monday, Jaunzeme-Grende explained that she had been working hard during her two-week business trip to Australia, and that the reproaches of her being a "tourist" are unfounded.

In an interview on Latvian State Radio, the irritated minister rejected the allegations that her trip had been spent as a vacation, and listed a number of achievements at her meetings with the Latvian community in Australia, emphasizing that it was "the job done that was important, not the period of time it took."

Jaunzeme-Grende left for Australia before Christmas and stayed there up until January 5.

Jaunzeme-Grende left for Australia on December 23 in order to participate in the events of the 54th Cultural Days of the Australian Latvians and meet with members of the Latvian community in Australia.

The minister said that her visit to Australia was in line with the national Identity, Civic Society and Integration Policy Guidelines for 2012-2018, where strengthening ties with Latvian communities abroad was one of the priorities.