Distinction in travel journalism
Is independent travel journalism important to you?
Click here to keep it independent

7 Dec, 2013

Australian PM gets tough on travel costs – Sydney Morning Herald

The Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ordered cabinet ministers and top public servants to personally approve the airfares and hotel bookings of tens of thousands of bureaucrats as part of a crackdown on government travel costs.

Fairfax Media has learnt that on November 18, Mr Abbott issued a directive designed to clamp down on official travel by federal public servants, domestically and overseas.

He instructed all cabinet ministers to take personal responsibility for approving official travel by departmental officials, whether individuals or delegations, where the proposed cost exceeded $20,000. He directed that he must be consulted about any proposed travel, whether by an individual or a delegation, that exceeded $50,000.

Read the rest: Abbott gets tough on travel costs.