Highly paid elite Commonwealth bureaucrats have been treated to luxury overnight get-togethers at exclusive resorts and golf clubs around Canberra and the NSW Southern Highlands by the agency that insists on wage restraint for rank-and-file public servants.
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While the Australian Public Service Commission has been enforcing the Coalition's tough public service bargaining policy, which has seen wage offers of less than 1 per cent, it has also been quietly hosting country training retreats for senior public service executives at some of the Canberra region's more upmarket venues.
The commission – which has a training role, as well as acting as federal workplace enforcer – says the cash was spent on "leadership development programs" and residential and non-residential "workshops".
Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd says the residential training courses are no different to those undertaken in the private sector and that his agency strives to find venues that offer value for money as well as proximity to Canberra.
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The commission has taken the lead role in the dispute over wages and conditions between the Coalition government and much of its public service workforce in dispute.
More than 97,000 public servants are still in dispute with the government, in a row that is well into its third year and which flared up publicly this week in a public dispute between Mr Lloyd and ABC Chairman Jim Spigelman.
But contracts lodged with government tendering site AusTender reveal hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent since 2014 by the commission on "hotels and lodging and meeting facilities" and "banquet and catering services" at various upmarket venues in and around the capital.
Nearly $320,000 has been spent at venues such as Peppers Manor House, Craigieburn Resort, The Goolabri Country Resort, Federal Golf Club and the Lake Crackenback Resort.
At Peppers Manor House, nestled in the picturesque Sutton Forrest, guests can enjoy the award-winning restaurant, day spa, swimming pool and tennis court, and play volleyball, badminton, croquet or boules, or a round of golf at the next-door 18-hole championship Mount Broughton Golf and Country Club.
The latest taxpayer-funded bill for a stay at Peppers, for $28,600, was lodged with AusTender last Monday.
In November 2014 the commission racked up a $46,000 bill at Peppers for hotel and lodging and meeting facilities, and three months earlier spent $22,000 at the Southern Highlands retreat.
But it remains unclear who attended the events and what taxpayers got for their money but Mr Lloyd said the commission was helping departments skill-up their senior bureaucrats.
"The Commission provides leadership development programs to support Australian Public Service agencies in building the capability of employees," the commissioner said.
"These Service-wide programs include a number of workshops complemented by on-the-job learning and post program evaluation.
"Senior Executive Service leadership development programs contain residential workshops as part of their overall design.
"This is consistent with the approach taken by many private sector organisations and reflects contemporary practice."
