Public servants to be banned from free flight upgrades – but business class still a go

3 months ago 20

The Albanese government has knocked back a plan to force federal bureaucrats to fly economy between Sydney and Melbourne, but has agreed to stop them accepting first-class flight upgrades that airlines use to win favour in Canberra.

A Department of Finance review of government travel policies released quietly on Friday last week, seven months after it was completed, found that existing policies were delivering value for money but weren’t consistently followed.

Travel on Qantas still outstrips other airlines for travel by public servants.

National outcry over government travel perks exploded last year after commentator Joe Aston revealed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had received at least 22 free Qantas upgrades from economy class, worth tens of thousands of dollars, as had other politicians and public servants.

“The Australian public, parliamentarians and submissions to the review have raised the possibility that access to exclusive lounges provided by Qantas and Virgin may unduly influence government travel patterns,” the report said.

The report said data from 2023-24 showed there was higher use of Qantas flights by public servants in and out of Canberra than other airlines, but attributed this to more availability from the national carrier and said the booking patterns were consistent with the public.

The review, completed in December last year, found the existing policy was fit-for-purpose and saved the government $260 million in 2022-23, but was not always being followed by individuals. It made seven recommendations to improve value and efficiency in government travel, and support competition. The government accepted them to varying degrees, and tasked the department with implementing the changes.

The rules will apply to public servants, but politicians and their staff will escape the upgrade restrictions because their travel comes under different legislation.

A key recommendation bars public servants from accepting flight upgrades except in exceptional circumstances, such as when there is no other seat on a plane. The department said it would draft a new travel policy to include the recommendation to be effective from early next year.

“When accepted, upgrades should be declared consistent with the [public service] guidance on gifts and benefits, and … officials must not accept any upgrade to first class,” the report states.

The department also said it would publish travel usage and expenditure reports, including the carriers used and costs incurred, from early next year.

“These transparency recommendations are intended to provide greater accountability to the public on Commonwealth travel spend,” the report states.

The report did not recommend limiting access to membership to lounges, despite calls from some parliamentarians for the perk to be banned.

Independent MPs, including Kate Cheney and Helen Haines, gave up their Chairman’s Lounge membership in the furore following the release of Aston’s book – The Chairman’s Lounge – last year. Others, including Allegra Spender and David Pocock, have called for the memberships to be banned for MPs.

Senior regulators, including top staff at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, resigned from the Chairman’s Lounge in November.

The government has rejected other recommendations, including a call for public servants to be required to use economy rather than business class on flights of less than three hours, which could save up to $4 million a year on domestic flights.

“While there can be operational requirements to use business class on longer flights where government officials are expected to rest on the flight and arrive and commence work immediately, there are few operational requirements for shorter flights, especially those under 3 hours,” the report states.

The department said in a document responding to the report that the “current settings are appropriate”.

A recommendation for contracted travel management companies to be required to offer a broad range of options for international flights and “strongly encourage” the use of existing flight credits before spending more, would be supported, the department said.

Albanese said in October last year that his flight upgrades had been documented appropriately.

“Every single thing has been declared, every single thing has been declared, which is why it has been reported on, and it is appropriate that those declarations occur,” he said. Other politicians, including Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, had to apologise and declare flight upgrades that they had previously omitted.

Qantas and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher’s office were contacted for comment.

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