The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, searching for ways to shrink its spending, flew 23 bureaucrats business class from Canberra to Paris to attend a three-day conference and discuss ways to save money, officials said yesterday.
An Australian Senate committee quizzed senior department officials on whether a video conference or a less expensive city had been considered as cheaper alternatives when the department was trying to reduce its spending by A$12.6 million (US$9.66 million) per year.
The official who chose Paris, John Fisher, told the committee that the agenda of the in-house conference last month included discussions of ways to save money.
“We flew people to Paris to talk about how we might do things in a more effective way,” Fisher told the committee.
Fairfax Media yesterday conservatively estimated the cost of flying 23 bureaucrats from their Canberra headquarters on the 34,000km round-trip journey to Paris as well as accommodation at the four-star Mercure Paris Center Eiffel Tower Hotel, where most of them stayed, at A$215,000.
Some participants asked why a video conference had not been held instead, Fairfax reported.
Fisher, who attended the conference, said he considered a video conference before opting for Paris.
Fisher said he did not know the total cost of the conference because it had been paid for out of a number of training budgets.
He said he did not know whether the Fairfax estimate was accurate.
Fisher said Paris was chosen because it was a regional hub and the Australian embassy was available as a free conference venue.
Another 40 department staff from Europe also attended the conference, as well as six from Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Islamabad and Kathmandu.
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