Limited consequences for executive high flyers on exclusive clubs
Senior public servants who ignore or side-step Commonwealth travel rules in order to take advantage of exclusive access to airline lounges are unlikely to face consequences.
In recent weeks it has been revealed some senior public servants who are members of the invite-only Qantas Chairman's Lounge fly exclusively or almost exclusively with that airline, possibly contravening the whole of government travel policy to always book the lowest practical fare.
The whole of government travel policy is administered by the Department of Finance, but the department does not manage compliance with the policy and won't investigate the travel expenditure of those with said memberships.
Instead the travel of the upper echelons of each department and agency can only be investigated within that department or agency.
"The guidance on use of the Lowest Practical Fare and Use of the Best Fare of the Day identify that officials must manage compliance in line with their entity’s internal processes. Entities are responsible for managing their compliance, including investigation and consequences of any breaches," a Finance spokeswoman said.
Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick wants to work with Finance on improving how the policy works and how it is enforced.
"Even as a minimum, Finance have a role to ensure that a policy is operating effectively and if it isn't they need to change things," he said.
"Maybe this conduct has been normalised in the past, but now that we’ve shone the torch on it, people now need to be rethinking it, because they go from an unconscious activity to something more conscious," Senator Patrick said.
Answers to questions on notice in Senate estimates have shown senior public servants across departments have been invited to both the Qantas Chairman's Lounge and the Virgin equivalent, The Club. Membership to the clubs can't be paid for and is only available by invite to senior bosses in government and business.
All MPs are invited to both clubs, with most declaring membership on their register of interests. Public servants and MPs don't accrue frequent flyer points for official travel, but can gain status credits. No amount of flying can guarantee access to the two exclusive lounges.
Last week the Department of Veterans Affairs reported three of its staff had accepted membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge, but did not have an equivalent Virgin membership. All three flew only with Qantas in the 2016-17 financial year.
Membership of the clubs varies between agencies, as does the reporting of the memberships. All departments and agencies have been asked to report how often their staff fly Qantas, Virgin or other airlines, as well as how many staff have memberships.
The Department of Defence, Home Affairs and the Australian Bureau of Statistics have all told estimates committees they could not disclose how many staff members were members of either club because the airlines would not provide the information due to privacy reasons.
Declaring membership of the clubs on a department's gift register is subject to each department's processes, a Finance spokeswoman said.