Budget Cuts for Pub.Service travel: Economy for Domestic & Reduced International

[amaroo]

IMO it's the relatively small number of senior PS & the countless thousands of low level politicians & political minions happily feeding off the public tit.........that are the problem!

Why any of these people ever need to fly F or J for short haul sectors is beyond me. They should also ban CL membership for all on the public purse! CL is just a fancy pants way of providing a benefit to manipulate an outcome that suits QF interests......

Your everyday bog standard PS isn't filling F & J cabins:idea:

 

[TonyHancock]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

So you have had a bit of a bad day dealing with a few pesky, incompetent public servants in wherever you work and whatever sector and so you want to start cutting away stuff-all entitlements PS's have do you??? I guess that is fair coz the sun only shines out of the rear end of every private sector type i have ever dealt with... I've never been screwed royally or p!ssed off completely so I guess i don't get to start telling you what to do in your company...

And pretty scant details of what your beef is, and what amazing bunch of credits to the human race you lead...

Again, i havent, and don't think i ever will, get paid business class for work, so hardly defending my own pampering, our DG has said no one will be travelling J in our Dept although he gets to of course... But not particularly interested in listening to, or being dictated to by all and sundry experts in the private sector who more often than not have their snouts pretty firmly entrenched in the trough and who haven't shown their own runs on the board themselves to start handing out advice to all us loafing PS's...

As a public servant i get exactly Sweet FA lerks, perks and other entitlements, so the actual incentive to stay in the PS is fairly few and far between and while the days of lavish spending might have been cut back in private enterprise since the GFC (which i seem to recall was brought on mostly by the amazingly flexible private sector by the way) i doubt most could get any less perks/bonuses/incentives/rewards than most of us PS's do... And all they can do is complain about anything we do get...

As i heard from someone in private enterprise the other day at a breakky, with continual budget cuts and lack of resources going to Departments do you really think your going to get better services or more capable people delivering them?? Plus as to the reference to the amount of debt i think that is mostly influenced by goverment spending commitments, maybe vote for someone else next time...

I'm sorry that you don't get to travel in J at my expense, but look on the bright side your boss does!! (We all fly the same way in my business, I'm lucky enough to collect enough points to make my trips pointy end based!! When times get tough my travel will be paid for by points and definitely non pointy end based...or I don't travel.)

As it happens I think the problem is more to do with size of an organisation than whether it is private or public sector. It is about accountability. The larger the organisation the less accountability there seems to be. Perhaps ownership is a better word than accountability. The public sector gets more criticism because it is public money, I have no doubt that money is wasted in large private corporations. The difference is I can choose not to buy their products, or invest in stocks and shares in that business.....unfortunately I can't opt out of paying tax.

Apologies if I touched a raw nerve with you.

 

[eastwest101]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

...

As it happens I think the problem is more to do with size of an organisation than whether it is private or public sector. It is about accountability. The larger the organisation the less accountability there seems to be. Perhaps ownership is a better word than accountability. The public sector gets more criticism because it is public money, I have no doubt that money is wasted in large private corporations. The difference is I can choose not to buy their products, or invest in stocks and shares in that business.....unfortunately I can't opt out of paying tax.

I second TonyHancock - our private enterprise only allows J class travel for stuff over >6 hours duration, the rest is Y BFOD. If you think thats too profligate you can invest shares in one of our competitors, or complain about it in a shareholders meeting. Our company is free to make profits and pay taxes in Australia or go broke and not tap the taxpayer for extra money.

I know that probably the majority of Public Servants are not jetting around in F / J class on short flights but I am sure that quite a few SES band people have it in their contracts. Maybe if the public service wasn't becoming so politicized and pandering to their political masters, was held to account, focused on delivering services and had the same superannuation as the rest of the work force then the general public would have more respect for them.

 

[coyote25]

The reduced travel I believe has been happening for sometime. My organisation has cut travel expenses every year for 5 years we are now down about 50% in costs, although I admit from a to high level.

In Australia only SES officers have a right to J travel and my bosses for last few years have rarely taken that option despite it being in their contract due to having to justify costs.

In the same period (5 years) I would have done 100+ domestic flights all in Y BFOD and since we change provider 3 years ago fares became much cheaper.

Now often I get requested to speak to professionals and lawyers and flying on the same plane other presenters are in J. I have no concern with that as I'm on public dime. My employer and myself turn down lots of clients requests on cost basis and we are disliked for not providing a service when we do (we don't accept clients paying for flights so we can attend as it would be seen as a gift)

Don't think all PS are the same. J travellers mostly work in ministers office or are extremely senior PS. The 98% of APS would never know J class, don't get points for flying and I'm fine with that.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

We complain about anything you get because:

A. We want less Government, less government departments, less public servants, less tax and less interference in our lives. It matters little which side of politics is in power, we still end up with more government.
B. Because you are government, you don't have any "skin in the game"; and as such, it matters very little if you are profitable/successful or not.
C. We don't see you as "representing our country", we see you as what is wrong with our country.............it's not personal, but we don't need you.

A. Well that's a bunch of easy, glib, catch alls to trot out... But they sound good i suppose... Maybe you can provide us with your list of department's we can cross off... We don't really have any serious wars at the moment eh, so lets cut back Defence a whole heap... No ones broken into my house anytime recently (plus i am growing to despise the revenue raising antics of the WA police) so lets cut them back big time... I've not been sick for a while and have private health care, so I'm all for wiping out Medicare... I have enough money to rent a place and haven't slept in a park or on the streets for a while, so I think our Dept of Housing can safely be shut down... Never been to jail either so there goes Prisons or Corrective Services... I don't do much swimming in our local Swan River, so if sewerage leaks are happening in it or someones dumping their industrial waste in there i don't really give a cough, so the local Environment Department can go... Been employed for a long time so don't need Centrelink (i'll forget the time 15 years or so when i was unemployed for a bit and needed their assistance, after all this all about ME and MY circumstances right now) Hey your so right, i can live my life much better and more cheaply if we get rid of all these Departments and lazy PSs i personally don't use... Get rid of them all and watch all these citizens paying less tax squeal like stuck pigs after a bit...

B. I think you will tend to find that more than a few Government depts operate in areas where there isn't a profit to be made (nor quick, easy fixes) and so most of the people/companies with "skin in the game" wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.. They also operate in areas where you can't reduce everything to a profit or loss account and if its not turning a profit you toss your clients on the scrap heap... They also do a certain amount of regulating of the economy and the market etc, and we know how good and honest private entrprise is under self regulation.... Unlike private schools Govy schools can't just toss out or bar all the low performing students from broken homes from getting an education... Govy hospitals can't turn away the dregs of society who keep peskily turning up at the emergency departments... Centrelink can't just cut off the drug effected or people with disabilities or psychological problems or old age clients who can't get a job in the amazingly flexible private sector... Anytime society as a whole wants to stop committing crimes I'm sure Govts will be happy to scale back police forces and prisons and customs... When Govts have tried to get involved in the game you usually find corruption, royal commissions and lots of lost money, so often times its better if Govt stays out of "the game" and provides the boundaries for it to take place in... But hey, put some ideas for making the police force profit based, centrelink profit based, the courts and schools profit based... Your obviously smarter than everyone else who has ever looked at providing social services...

C. Oh I'm what's 'wrong with the country" am i... Sheesh, that's a bit of a blow... I hope i don't lose sleep tonight because of what some (thinking what word here won't get me a ban, maybe feel free to use your imagination, i could probably provide some rhyming words??) thinks of me... Wouldn't want my performance tomorrow to be seriously impaired and so loaf on the public purse... I imagine your one of these people under the misapprehension that if you dropped into a black hole that more than your close family and friends would give a rat's rear orifice... But if only we could clone you so we could have more of what the model Aussie truly is...

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

I'm sorry that you don't get to travel in J at my expense, but look on the bright side your boss does!! (We all fly the same way in my business, I'm lucky enough to collect enough points to make my trips pointy end based!! When times get tough my travel will be paid for by points and definitely non pointy end based...or I don't travel.)

As it happens I think the problem is more to do with size of an organisation than whether it is private or public sector. It is about accountability. The larger the organisation the less accountability there seems to be. Perhaps ownership is a better word than accountability. The public sector gets more criticism because it is public money, I have no doubt that money is wasted in large private corporations. The difference is I can choose not to buy their products, or invest in stocks and shares in that business.....unfortunately I can't opt out of paying tax.

Apologies if I touched a raw nerve with you.

That's ok Tony, its not like I haven't heard about how bad the public service is, but its also not like i have to sit and listen to either... There's an amazing bunch of know it all's out there, especially those who pay a bit of tax (without taking into account that many get a whole bunch back in middle class welfare handouts) and somehow extrapolate this to the whole federal or state budget resting on this pittance that they hand over and so want a say in everything that happens and anyone who may be paid by the Government... The world, and the Government. will keep going if anyone chooses to do themselves in and opts out of handing over their hard eearned tax dollar....

Its entirely possible that I or the DG might be travelling on our own taxes, that it has nothing to do with anyone on this forum and that you receive more than your fair share of services and infrastructure and social benefit from what ever amount of taxes you pay? If anyone thinks they are being short changed i suppose they are free to move to the outback or somewhere and build their own roads and telecommunication infrastructure and electricity generation and water treatment plants and health services etc, etc, etc from motherload of taxes they think they are shelling out???

And yes, i definitely agree, as organisations in private or public sector get larger, they all take on some level of beuracracy (sp) and employees/managers start playing games with annual budgets and working organisaitonal policies to their benefits and spending the organisation's resoruces for the benefit of themselves and their staff without always referring to the benefit of the 'owners'...

As for competition, well there is often competing electricity generators, telecommuncation companies, private and public hospitals and schools... Sorry we can't have a competing attorney generals department, defence department, foreign affairs and trade department... Maybe Lehman Brothers could start up a competing Treasury and Reserve Bank??? Even in private enterprise we have only two major supermarkets, two major airlines, 4 banks which all seem to offer the same lousy deal...

 

[browski]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

A. Well that's a bunch of easy, glib, catch alls to trot out... But they sound good i suppose... Maybe you can provide us with your list of department's we can cross off... We don't really have any serious wars at the moment eh, so lets cut back Defence a whole heap... No ones broken into my house anytime recently (plus i am growing to despise the revenue raising antics of the WA police) so lets cut them back big time... I've not been sick for a while and have private health care, so I'm all for wiping out Medicare... I have enough money to rent a place and haven't slept in a park or on the streets for a while, so I think our Dept of Housing can safely be shut down... Never been to jail either so there goes Prisons or Corrective Services... I don't do much swimming in our local Swan River, so if sewerage leaks are happening in it or someones dumping their industrial waste in there i don't really give a cough, so the local Environment Department can go... Been employed for a long time so don't need Centrelink (i'll forget the time 15 years or so when i was unemployed for a bit and needed their assistance, after all this all about ME and MY circumstances right now) Hey your so right, i can live my life much better and more cheaply if we get rid of all these Departments and lazy PSs i personally don't use... Get rid of them all and watch all these citizens paying less tax squeal like stuck pigs after a bit...

B. I think you will tend to find that more than a few Government depts operate in areas where there isn't a profit to be made (nor quick, easy fixes) and so most of the people/companies with "skin in the game" wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.. They also operate in areas where you can't reduce everything to a profit or loss account and if its not turning a profit you toss your clients on the scrap heap... They also do a certain amount of regulating of the economy and the market etc, and we know how good and honest private entrprise is under self regulation.... Unlike private schools Govy schools can't just toss out or bar all the low performing students from broken homes from getting an education... Govy hospitals can't turn away the dregs of society who keep peskily turning up at the emergency departments... Centrelink can't just cut off the drug effected or people with disabilities or psychological problems or old age clients who can't get a job in the amazingly flexible private sector... Anytime society as a whole wants to stop committing crimes I'm sure Govts will be happy to scale back police forces and prisons and customs... When Govts have tried to get involved in the game you usually find corruption, royal commissions and lots of lost money, so often times its better if Govt stays out of "the game" and provides the boundaries for it to take place in... But hey, put some ideas for making the police force profit based, centrelink profit based, the courts and schools profit based... Your obviously smarter than everyone else who has ever looked at providing social services...

C. Oh I'm what's 'wrong with the country" am i... Sheesh, that's a bit of a blow... I hope i don't lose sleep tonight because of what some (thinking what word here won't get me a ban, maybe feel free to use your imagination, i could probably provide some rhyming words??) thinks of me... Wouldn't want my performance tomorrow to be seriously impaired and so loaf on the public purse... I imagine your one of these people under the misapprehension that if you dropped into a black hole that more than your close family and friends would give a rat's rear orifice... But if only we could clone you so we could have more of what the model Aussie truly is...

I know you believe you defended your cause with your reply, but I'm very happy to let it stand as Exhibit A in supporting my position.

 

[mella2007]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

As a person in small business who pays for all travel themselves, I cannot believe some of the comments on here about people demanding that their employer pay for Business class on flights. (and as for Domestic...can people not even sit with the masses for an hour or two?)
Flying J is not a right, it's a bonus and I don't see why government employees should be given this as a perk alongside everything else they get.
If you're lucky enough for your company to pay for travel in J, well that's great for you....
As for the rest of us who get no breaks from the government in general, I am happy they are doing this and hope they stick to it.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

Oh no, i've sunk the PS with my own words rather than taking the sensible approach of just agreeing with everything you said, guess its time to pack us all up and turn the running of the country over to Browski, whoever you are...

Either that or you couldn't come up with a decent, intelligent response to how to manage some of the difficult problems that societies often creates for itself and can't be allowed to take their natural course unless you want a failed state like Somalia where the dollar and the gun rule things...

Anyway, your still an amazing Australian, and you and yours are the only thing that keep us going, i realise that now...

 

[harvyk]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

Could someone please explain to me why traveling on the public purse is so much different than traveling on a private purse?
If job XYZ needs to be done then job XYZ needs to be done, there is no two ways about it.

 

[harvyk]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

Flying J is not a right, it's a bonus and I don't see why government employees should be given this as a perk alongside everything else they get.

Could you please list out everything else a gov't employee gets?

As far as I know
- Often paid under market rates
- Often forced to work long hours
- Often forced to change everything they are working on simply due to the whim of a politician
- Not allowed to have their own opinions, lest it appears they are disagreeing with the views of the current gov't
- Often forced onto BFOD policies
- Often forced into using unworkable bureaucracies / power struggles / empire builders (you think it's bad on the outside)
- Often the whipping boy of public debate, despite the fact they are simply following directions from the minister.

Need I go on?

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

As a person in small business who pays for all travel themselves, I cannot believe some of the comments on here about people demanding that their employer pay for Business class on flights. (and as for Domestic...can people not even sit with the masses for an hour or two?)
Flying J is not a right, it's a bonus and I don't see why government employees should be given this as a perk alongside everything else they get.
If you're lucky enough for your company to pay for travel in J, well that's great for you....
As for the rest of us who get no breaks from the government in general, I am happy they are doing this and hope they stick to it.

"Alongside everything else they get"??? Right, another person in la la land who thinks we are all living it up....


The demanding to fly J is just a different mentality between people who work in big, large, well resourced organisations as opposed to those that work in small businesses often... No one forced you to take your career path and different people like different work environments... My parents operated a small business most of their life, i experienced that and felt that it wasn't the environment for me... The people in the large organisaitons would probably be within their rights to tell you to mind your own business wouldn't they?? I'm sure everyone telling everyone else how they should work, live, get paid and what entitlements they should be allowed etc are saints themselves here???

And there are often Government depts offering assistance to businesses, i work in an economic development agency that has helped plenty of small and medium sized businesses... That you don't receive any breaks may just be your lack of interest in looking at whatis available... Sorry Government can't provide everything to evertyone...

 

[medhead]

This is damn funny. Love the irony of complaining about politicising of the public service while engaged in exactly the sort of attack that makes it easy for the politicians to put their mates in charge. Also the type of attack that makes it difficult for public servants to give open and honest advice.

I can think of about a thousand examples where those corrupt, good for nothing public servants have saved the public coughs. I can imagine the outroar from these same people if public servants weren't there doing their jobs. Maybe go and get some time up and then come to talk to me.

- Often forced to work long hours

Yep and I can cite examples of public servants who choose to work long hours out of pure dedication. My ex-boss used to get up and do a couple of hours at home before coming into work at 9 and would often still be there at 6pm. He wasn't the only one in the office put in those hours everyday of the week solely out of dedication.

Oh but the taxpayer is getting ripped off

 

[dfcatch]

Could someone please explain to me why traveling on the public purse is so much different than traveling on a private purse?
If job XYZ needs to be done then job XYZ needs to be done, there is no two ways about it.

1/ Accountability

2/ It's VERY easy to spend money when it's not your own.

This also applies to large corporations - but - as a generalization there is still better accountability in the private sector.

This is not a disparagement on individual public servants - it's simply the nature of the beast.

And public servants - (the really good senior ones) are excellent at protecting their empires

(As I would be if I was in the same position).

When doing ANYTHING on the public purse - there is an obligation (or at least there should be) on being frugal and pursuing value for money.

At the very least - the perception - is that this more often than not doesn't happen.



Fact is the public service is a fact of life - along with the bureaucracy that comes with it. There are some services/functions that can't/shouldn't be provided by the private sector, and to suggest otherwise is silly.

Being a hard working public servant isn't easy - but if you don't like the conditions - leave.

And yes - there are lazy bums riding the gravy train, and a higher percentage in the public service due to the nature of the beast. But there are lazy bums in the private sector too.

And yes - if job XYZ needs to be done - then it needs to be done.

But the conference/hotel industry would collapse if it wasn't for cushy junkets - so they will exist - and people will see them - and people will complain about them.

Facts of life in public policy

 

[harvyk]

1/ Accountability

2/ It's VERY easy to spend money when it's not your own.

This also applies to large corporations - but - as a generalization there is still better accountability in the private sector.

Again this is the nature of anyone who is able to travel on someone else's dollar. I know that for myself, if I'm traveling on someone elses dollar, I don't spend anywhere near the same amount of time as I would if I was traveling on my own dollar.

But the conference/hotel industry would collapse if it wasn't for cushy junkets - so they will exist - and people will see them - and people will complain about them.

Facts of life in public policy

I'm not going to say that everything a public servant does is necessarily good value, as I do know towards the end of the financial year, making sure the pots of money is empty is quite important lest the bean counters decide $x was sufficient for last year, so that's all you'll get for the next. But that can be attributed more towards an accounting methodology failure than a failure of the person who is now been told "how dare they fly with a level of comfort, strapped to the wing is the maximum you deserve" by the pax sitting next to them.

 

[casanovawa]

There is actually a great deal of accountability on PS travel (and a whole bunch of other areas), probably more than in most private enterprises, seeing that our Dept would have to report travel to a central agency on probably a quarterly basis, where and for how long and how much, and these are all FOI-able and the Opposition can (and do) bring this up in Parliament periodcally as can any newspaper or media company on a slow news day... So there is plenty of of accounatbility driven reasons for the Premier, Ministers, DG's and Senior execs to carefully scrutinise travel applications to protect their own backsides as well as to be prudent managers of often shrinking budgets (our Dept is having a 10% budget cut this year so hopefully Joe Public can understand we aren't cavorting quite as much as last year and the champagne on tap has been dropped to a cheaper label...)

The being frugal part can sometimes be counter productive, its not always more expensive to do things cheaply, but remunerating people so you get some of the better ones rather than them all leaving to go consulting and giving them the resources they need to do the job, whilst keeping up training, skilling and networks is hardly a bad thing... Unlike dumping cough on people repeatedly then telling them they can go get another job if they don't like it...

And the perception that the PS doesn't give value for money and we are all lazy bums won't be changed in yours or my lifetime, its too much of a cherished stereotype, but when i'm told i'm part of the problem with Australia you better believe you'll get an earful back...

 

[DC3]

I hope this debate doesn't deteriorate into a personal agenda.....

I think that it's already slid into a Public Service bashing, at least. The politicians (government/ministers, anyway) are meant to control the bureaucratic spending and to hold the Public Service accountable. Because that doesn't happen, it seems okay to target the average public servant as the villain.

 

[alieninperth]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

Could you please list out everything else a gov't employee gets?

As far as I know
- Often paid under market rates
- Often forced to work long hours
- Often forced to change everything they are working on simply due to the whim of a politician
- Not allowed to have their own opinions, lest it appears they are disagreeing with the views of the current gov't
- Often forced onto BFOD policies
- Often forced into using unworkable bureaucracies / power struggles / empire builders (you think it's bad on the outside)
- Often the whipping boy of public debate, despite the fact they are simply following directions from the minister.

Need I go on?

As a public servant (WA State Govt) can I just respond to a few of these points, in turn:
1) we are some of the better paid people in Australia, as a menial officer, I earn more than a Director for the Cwlth Govt. We are also fairly well paid when compared to the private sector. A project manager in the public sector in WA is likely to be between levels 5 - 8 so a rough estimate of just under $80k to about $125k pa. Compared to the private sector a senior PM (not in the resource sector) could get to about $150k pa but they would be on call most of the time, most PMs in the public sector would be on about the same range. Not the case in most of the public sector.
2) yes we do work long hours at times, especially when travelling for work. On my last trip over East I worked on the plane, (flying Y) only reading a file but still working, for most of the trip (I didn't work through food service as there wasn't enough space). When I got to my hotel I did some more work on the computer. Started working at 7 the following morning and then all day with an afternoon flight back to WA. I worked on the plane on the way back as well. On the upside, I have a great manager and after periods of intense work I am able to take a day or afternoon off.
3) totally agree with this. It can be fustrating at times, but this happens in private industry as well, execpt there is can be any number of twits up the line who can it.
4) this is true in public, but we are more than capable of voicing our disagreements in private and most Pollys seem to respect that from their senior Public Servants.
5) Yes, unless timings are an issue. For example we would not necesarily get an early morning flight to save $20 because that would be eaten up by the increased meal allowances (not that you can claim them if flying QF).
6) Yes again, but this is equally true for all large organisations, public or private.
7) This is one of the greatest demotivators for me. Especially if the Minister is the one bagging us out for something that we did wrong (more often than not because they failed to make a decision).

we also get:
good leave allowances, maternity/paternity, flexible working, leave loading, long service,

on the negative side though we have little autonomy, and the biggest issue for me is working with people who are just not capable of working in the way needed for a modern public service..

Last thing, the only person here who travels J is the head of the org, everyone else is in Y, even the senior exec team.

 

[mella2007]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

"Alongside everything else they get"??? Right, another person in la la land who thinks we are all living it up....


The demanding to fly J is just a different mentality between people who work in big, large, well resourced organisations as opposed to those that work in small businesses often... No one forced you to take your career path and different people like different work environments... My parents operated a small business most of their life, i experienced that and felt that it wasn't the environment for me... The people in the large organisaitons would probably be within their rights to tell you to mind your own business wouldn't they?? I'm sure everyone telling everyone else how they should work, live, get paid and what entitlements they should be allowed etc are saints themselves here???

And there are often Government depts offering assistance to businesses, i work in an economic development agency that has helped plenty of small and medium sized businesses... That you don't receive any breaks may just be your lack of interest in looking at whatis available... Sorry Government can't provide everything to evertyone...

I didn't attack you personally nor attack anyone on this thread for their choice of employment. And frankly I don't need you preaching to me about my chosen career path or looking at what's available.
You don't know me, you don't know what I am eligible/not eligible to receive, so please don't tell me I'm not informed or my lack of interest.
It is important to remember there are many facets of government positions, all whom are working under different conditions and perks.

My comments, as I know various people who work across different levels of government (including MP's) is that the majority (and I will stress here, the majority) are decently paid, and well looked after in not only Travel expenses. Yes it may be high pressure (as are many other careers), however paid J travel especially in Domestic shouldn't be a given. Why should some people be given free travel even after they've left a job? Regardless of who they once were or what they did.

I believe that any time some sort of thread is created involving people who work in government at any level, there is a huge outcry should someone say something that other's don't like.

We all pay taxes, no matter where or who we work for.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Cut Plans for PS travel: Business Class [domestic] & International

One of the biggest drawbacks for the WA PS at least, maybe different for the feds, is that there is no way really of rewarding performance... Everyone in the PS is pretty much on a set level of bands and getting paid within them whilst obviously every job in that band is in reality not of the same complexity or difficulty or the same demands... It doesn't matter if you go above or beyond or coast along, there are no bonuses and no real rewards for how you perform unlike the freedom that private sector bosses and companies often (not always) have...

Once after a particularly difficult middle reporting period of the year the Exec Director of Finance took a few of us out to a lunch at a restaurant but that was about it... And i'm sure you couldn't do that very often, probably not at all with the current annual budget cuts since hospitality etc is also closely monitored...