THE ACT Liberals have lashed out at territory government staff spending up to $800 a month on their mobile phone bills.
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According to answers given in the Legislative Assembly, the most expensive monthly mobile phone bills in the ACT Government were between $159 and $811 a month in 2011. The figures also showed the average taxpayer-funded bill for a territory government employee was $21.57 a month across almost 4000 mobiles. The average bill for the ACT executive was $55.83 a month.
Liberal MLA Alistair Coe said an $800 phone bill seemed incredible when an unlimited package could be bought for about $100 a month. ''If a small business ran their mobile phone contracts like this, they'd go broke,'' Mr Coe said.
Treasurer Andrew Barr said: ''There are many reasons for bills to vary, including responding to emergencies such as floods and fires, significant out of hours work when they are away from a work landline, or being interstate or overseas on official government business.'' PHILLIP THOMSON
