Climate Change department spends $40k on sunglasses, $27k on ‘exec planning day’
The federal climate change department also spent $27,000 on an ‘planning day’ for senior executives at a Canberra hotel.
The federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has spent almost $40,000 on “sunglasses for extreme climate” and almost $27,000 on a “planning day” for senior executive staff at a Canberra hotel, commonwealth tender documents reveal.
The department has confirmed the sunglasses were for the Australian Antarctic Division, and said the $26,950 “SES planning day”, held at the QT Hotel, was for 160 staff members, working out to a cost of almost $170 a head.
Details published on the AusTender website show the department awarded a $39,318 contract, spanning January 25 to May 1, to sunglasses manufacturers Spotters Shades, based in the Melbourne suburb of Bayswater, for “PPE – Sunglasses for Extreme Climate”.
The company’s website prices its sunglasses at between $260.00 and $319.95 a pair, at which prices the department would have been able to purchase between 120 and 150 pairs.
Founded in 1948, the AAD currently has some 300 staff members, with responsibility for administering the Australian Antarctic Territory, conducting scientific research in the area, and maintaining a presence in the region through permanent stations, field bases and the provision of transport, communication and medical services.
The AusTender website shows the tender for the “SES planning day” was initially for $11,950, but this was subsequently increased to $26,950.
Spokeswomen for Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek referred questions over both contracts to the department.
“DCCEEW held a planning day with all senior executive staff to develop priorities for the year ahead. The previous planning day had been held over 12 months before,” a department spokesperson said. The planning day had been held to coincide with Senate estimates hearings “when the department’s senior staff were already in Canberra, to reduce travel costs”.
“The planning day contract included payment for venue hire, audio visual costs and catering for around 160 attendees. The initial contract was to secure the venue hire, with the variation undertaken once attendee numbers were confirmed,” they said.
Opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said: “As Australians struggle under Labor’s cost of living crisis, they deserve nothing less than full transparency about any expense not directed towards driving down energy costs.”
Austender records appear to indicate that the previous Coalition government also spent tens of thousands of dollars with Spotters Shades to provide government employees with sunglasses, although none of the contracts were given the description “sunglasses for extreme climate.”
In 2021, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry spent $43,305.68 and in 2020 it spent $37,156.68 on “clothing” with the company, which exclusively manufactures sunglasses, while in 2019 the same department spent $27,500 on “personal safety and protection” with the same company.
On Saturday, The Weekend Australian revealed that the DCCEEW had awarded a $183,000 contract to Melbourne-based consultants to advise them on “options to address Victoria’s forecast electricity supply shortfall.”
While the department said the six-month contract awarded to ACIL Allen consultants in January relates to the Marinus Link cable being built between Tasmania and Victoria, the company’s brief, listed on the federal government’s AusTender website, makes no mention of Marinus.
The contract was awarded months after the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its Energy Statement of Opportunities that Victoria and South Australia were facing an increased risk of blackouts, urging governments to plug the supply shortage or face a decade where power supplies could not be guaranteed.
News of its existence came as a war of words broke out on Friday between Victoria’s Energy Minister and her federal Labor Resources Minister counterpart, with Lily D’Ambrosio accusing Madeleine King of sounding “like a Coalition minister” on the issue of gas supply.
The stoush follows the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission on Friday warning that NSW and Victoria would face gas shortages this winter, unless extra supplies could be shipped south from Queensland.
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