The federal government's travel bill is on a steep climb despite efforts to cut back, as its agencies' spending on flights and hotels reached more than half a billion dollars last year.
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Government departments paid $593 million for flights, accommodation and hire cars in 2017, keeping an upward trajectory for the federal travel spend since the Coalition came into office.
The Defence Department was the government's big spender with a bill topping $230.3 million, nearly half of the Commonwealth's total travel and accomodation costs, while the former Immigration Department ($43.7 million) had the next-largest spend.
Home of Australia's diplomatic corps, Foreign Affairs and Trade, reached $42 million in travel, while Human Services ($41.3 million) and Attorney-General's ($41.3 million) rounded out the top five.
The government has asked public servants to reconsider their need to travel for work and to use video conferencing and other technology when possible in a drive to cut costs, but the latest figures show spending continues to soar from $377 million in the 2013-14 financial year.
Most of the 2017 bill went towards air travel, which cost agencies $439.1 million, and domestic flights from Canberra to Sydney and Melbourne were the most frequented routes for the bureaucracy.
International flights were more likely to carry public servants to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and Manus Island, than most other destinations suggesting Immigration workers kept a thoroughfare to the country in a year that saw the troubled closure of its controversial detention centre for asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.
Dallas, Singapore and Los Angeles were among other cities public servants landed most in 2017.
Governments have previously declined to release the total amount spent on travel as part of the centralised arrangements for non-corporate Commonwealth entities, with the bill estimated at about $500 million in 2012.
Established in July 2010, the government-wide system is designed to reduce costs and simplify some booking and administration processes.
Administered by Finance, the system requires bureaucrats and officials to buy the lowest practical airline fare - the cheapest ticket that suits the "practical business needs of the traveller".
For overseas travel, the best international fare must be selected from at least three quotes with public servants required to apply "an appropriate level of rigor" in finding value for money.
Public servants, staffers and other employees from 150 government entities are part of the system, which includes more than 100,000 travellers every year and sees everything from VIP travel to budget flights and group travel discounting.
Tickets can be booked from a panel of 18 airlines, including Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar, Regional Express, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Air Niugini, Etihad and Singapore Airlines.
