Taxpayers fork out ’astounding’ cost to teach NSW Transport bureaucrats to write
The premier axed plans to light up the Opera House for King Charles’ coronation, saying the decision would save up to $100,000 of our money. He’s now spent more than double that so bureaucrats can learn how to write.
NSW
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NSW taxpayers will fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars for contractors to train transport bureaucrats in “business writing,” despite the Premier’s election promise to slash the cash spent on third-party workers.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Minns government has awarded a contract worth $226,000 to the Plain English Foundation Pty Ltd to provide “business writing training to Sydney Metro staff”.
The spending flies in the face of Premier Chris Minns’ pre-election pledge to save more than a billion dollars by cutting down on contractors, consultants and labour hire and comes amid dire warnings about the state’s budget bottom line.
In May, Mr Minns axed plans to light up the Opera House sails for King Charles’ coronation, saying the decision would save up to $100,000.
“I do believe it’s important to protect taxpayer money,” he said at the time.
Just two months later, the government is spending more than double that to train about 200 staff in “business writing”.
Liberal Transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the cost was “astounding”.
“For a government that made a virtue of cutting waste and pointless spending, it’s astounding to see taxpayers spend $226,000 so people can learn how to write.
“Minister (Jo) Haylen and her team should engage the ‘Plain English Foundation’ to help spin themselves out of this embarrassing waste of taxpayers money,” Ms Ward said.
Sydney Metro would not outline the specific training staff would receive through the foundation.
“The program will benefit approximately 200 employees, and uplift the capabilities of our people when preparing complex documents to achieve more effective decision making and improved corporate governance,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“Sydney Metro supports its staff with opportunities to build and develop their capabilities.”
The agency would not say who approved the contract or when the decision was made to hire contractors to do the seemingly basic training.
Acting Transport Minister John Graham said staff training, like that provided by the contract, was “important” but “must meet community expectations of what is the responsible use of taxpayer money”.
“I’ve asked Sydney Metro to review and report back on its training budget and how allocations are being made and justified,” he said.
The Plain English Foundation bills itself as a “premium provider” of “digital, soft and future skills training” to help organisations improve their document writing.
The company was contacted for comment on Tuesday but did not respond.
Before the election, Mr Minns and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey pledged to save taxpayers $1.6bn by cutting the use of labour hire workers by 25 per cent.
He said that if elected he would use the money saved by “cutting Liberal waste” on contractors to invest in essential services.
At the time, Mr Mookhey said the Coalition had spent “an enormous amount of taxpayer money filling ICT and administrative tasks with temporary workers”.
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Originally published as Taxpayers fork out ’astounding’ cost to teach NSW Transport bureaucrats to write
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