State Government board under formal review after $10k trip to Queensland for all members and some spouses
A State Government board, which once spent nearly $50k on a dinner, also took a taxpayer-funded interstate trip replete with fine dining and luxury accommodation – and a few of their spouses got to tag along.
SA News
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A controversial State Government board is under formal review after new revelations about lavish spending of public money.
Leaked papers show the entire 13-member Construction Industry Training Board, and some spouses, flew to Queensland in March 2018, at a cost of at least $10,000.
The disclosures emerged after The Advertiser this month revealed how the contentious organisation spent almost $47,000 on an anniversary dinner for 110 people.
Skills and Industry Minister David Pisoni, who was not aware of the pre-election trip until recently, has now called in auditors to review all of the former board’s spending.
“This trip was prior to the March 2018 state election,” he said in response to inquiries.
“(It) is further vindication of the new government’s decision to change the structure of the board to deliver a skill set selected by industry that better reflects industry and community standards.
“On becoming minister I was not made aware of this spending and this trip. I will now ask the new board to conduct a complete audit of the previous board’s expenditure.”
A leaked itinerary shows the 13-member board flew to Brisbane on March 1, 2018 before staying at a central luxury apartment complex.
Members enjoyed a wine-fuelled private dinner at Gambaro seafood restaurant, which is billed as the “oldest established” Brisbane eatery and “a benchmark in fine dining”.
The board, funded through a special industry training fund levy on building contracts above $40,000, spent two days hearing from Construction Skills Queensland officials.
While the board found it was cheaper than flying to the South East and Eyre Peninsula due to discounted interstate flights, the trip has triggered an internal backlash.
“It was ... a complete waste of time and public money,” one source said.
Another said: “It’s very hard to justify, and a bad look when the levy should go towards employing more young people as apprentices or trainees instead of interstate trips.” New chairman Peter Kennedy said his board “would not undertake such a visit”.
But previous chairwoman, former Labor MP Gay Thompson, said: “The matter was carefully considered and decided unanimously by the board, which was always aware of our obligations to both the funding providers and workers in the industry.
“The only thing I can say without records is that on return, the board considered it had been of even more value than anticipated and prevented us making what could have been costly mistakes.”