Department of Agriculture staff enjoy Lego and jigsaw puzzle room to ‘de-stress’

Some of Canberra’s vast army of public servants are enjoying respite from their stressful office jobs by playing Lego.

“Snowflake” federal government bureaucrats have been provided with a “time out” puzzle and Lego room to de-stress from their jobs, prompting criticism about a waste of taxpayer dollars.

The Daily Telegraph has been sent photographs of the activity tables set up in the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s “Agriculture House” in Canberra, taken by “shocked” external visitors.

The visitors were told the elaborate jigsaw puzzles and multi-piece Lego world tables were set up in rooms for staff to play when “they were feeling stressed or need time out”.

“They were astonished when they saw the set-up, and asked the staff if it was serious – and it was put to them it worked something like a time-out space, like a Zen garden,” a Canberra insider said.

“It was hilarious, like a kid’s preschool set up for snowflakes.”

Lego tables have been set up for bureaucrats in the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Canberra based Agriculture House offices.

Asked about how much the “de-stressing” Lego and puzzles games space cost, when it was introduced and its purpose, a departmental spokesman responded: “The department’s national office (Agriculture House) has various formal (such as meeting rooms) and informal collaboration and breakout spaces (such as lunchrooms and casual seating).

Jigsaw puzzles set up for bureaucrats in the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Canberra based Agriculture House. Picture: Supplied.

“These facilities provide staff with opportunities to choose how and where they work within the building.

“Staff use the informal spaces for their team building activities or social engagement during their breaks.”

Australian Taxpayers Alliance president Brian Marlow said “they’re paying for unelected bureaucrats to sit around having play time”.

“It’s not about the total amount, it’s about how these government departments treat our money.

IPA’s Daniel Wild.

Australian Taxpayers Alliance.

“If a government department is willing to waste our money on stupid lego sets and jigsaw puzzles to let taxpayer funded bureaucrats act like adult children, they will waste every other dollar we send their way.”

The Institute of Public Affairs said the agriculture department needed to focus on removing red tape.

It said the department employed 6166 workers, with a total wages bill of $714 million, which averaged out at $115,000 a year or $60 an hour.

The think-tank researchers estimated that the lost productivity of the Lego room could cost taxpayers more than $8 million a year, if half of the employees were based in the Canberra offices.

“Instead of playing with Lego, the bureaucrats should be working to relieve the huge regulatory burden on one of Australia’s most productive industries by cutting red tape to generate investment, create jobs, and unleash prosperity,” deputy executive director Daniel Wild said.

“This tells you everything you need to know about disconnected between Canberra-based bureaucrats and Australians farmers.

“The pressure never stops for farming families, and I doubt too many can afford a ‘Zen room’ to escape the pressures of working the land.”

IPA research showed that bureaucrats charged with policing environmental regulations have grown at almost three times the rate as the size of Australia’s entire agriculture sector since 2000, he said.

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]