Ratepayers fork out over $117k for Town Hall bureaucrat trips

Europe, North America, Asia: City of Melbourne staff use over $117,000 in ratepayer funds to take more than 60 international and domestic trips last year.

Town hall bureaucrats spent more than $117,000 of ratepayer funds last year travelling to interstate and international destinations including spending time in some of the world’s most famous tourist destinations in Europe, North America and Asia.

City of Melbourne staff took more than 60 trips in 2024, visiting Osaka, Wellington, Hong Kong, Toronto, Singapore, Barcelona, Rome, Copenhagen, Utrecht, San Francisco and many more destinations in Australia.

The $117,381.70 travel bill does not include trips taken by councillors during 2024. However, it is larger than the City of Melbourne’s predicted $101,000 surplus announced in the 2024-25 Budget, which it said at the time was delivered through “prudent financial management”.

Council Watch president Dean Hurlston said local governments needed to refocus their priorities and stop spending big money on overseas and interstate travel for their staff.

One staff member spent over $1000 travelling to Spain for a Gender Equity Annual Summit. Picture: Getty Escape

“All interstate and international travel should be banned in all Victorian councils,” he said.

“Councils repeatedly complain that they are hard done by and need more funding. The hypocrisy is mind-blowing.

“No council staff member ever needs to attend overseas or interstate junkets to do their job.”

Ratepayers forked out almost $12,000 for two staff to attend an International Indigenous Music Summit in Toronto, Canada, while another staff member charged ratepayers $1189.40 to take part in a Gender Equity Annual Summit in Barcelona, Spain.

A senior staff member charged ratepayers $5634.38 to participate as a panellist in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Local Development Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Just weeks later he billed ratepayers $3488.95 to visit San Francisco in the USA to get “insights” to shape Melbourne’s “new economic agenda”.

A town hall staffer attended the Future Green City Congress in Utrecht, in the Netherlands – which is known for its beautiful tree-lined canals – for $1249.

Two staff members travelled with former lord mayor Sally Capp to the World Cities Summit in Singapore in June 2024, which cost ratepayers more than $8500.

Another staff member spent over $4000 on a trip to San Francisco to get “insights” to shape Melbourne’s “new economic agenda”. Photo - iStock

Ratepayers were slugged $5044.60 for a senior staff member to attend the NZ Landscape Architecture Wananga conference in Wellington.

It cost $4648.22 to send a staff member to a “Business Partner Cities” training program in Osaka, Japan, and visit the Melbourne’s Office in Tianjin, China. Melbourne and Tianjin have been sister cities since 1980.

One staff member travelled to Hong Kong to attend a City Diplomacy Masterclass hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Cities at a cost of $1989.71.

Ratepayers also funded a town hall employee’s trip to Rome, Italy, to attend the Urban Agrifood Systems Global Workshop at a cost of $1004.53.

Town hall staff also travelled dozens of times to interstate destinations such as the Gold Coast, Noosa, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and many others.

A City of Melbourne spokesperson said travel expenses made up an “incredibly small portion” of the Budget.