Bosses sink party for public servants

PUBLIC servants have been caught out trying to splash $16,000 of taxpayer cash on a lavish, after-hours dinner at the Melbourne Aquarium.

Staff from VicRoads and the Transport Accident Commission, and their partners, were to celebrate the end of the financial year in the aquarium’s “visually stunning” Fish Bowl room last Friday night. But bosses sank the party after questions from News Corp.

The lavish event, to cost $14,000-$16,000, promised 100-odd guests drinks and a fully catered feast. It is not clear how much money will be recouped after the 11th-hour cancellation, but it is unlikely the cost will be fully refunded.

Invitations, seen by News Corp, were issued for all Safe System Road Infrastructure Program staff “to help celebrate the EOFY and what we have achieved so far”.

The two organisations have begun a formal investigation and promised “appropriate disciplinary action”.

TAC boss Joe Calafiore and VicRoads acting chief executive Kerry Thompson said the party was “completely unacceptable” and “a clear breach of both VicRoads and TAC guidelines … We’ve commenced a full investigation into how it happened.

“The SSRIP team is doing a fantastic job in rolling out the biggest investment in road safety in our state’s history, and we thank them for it — but this is a fundamental misjudgment and simply not appropriate”.

The program is responsible for safety initiatives such as the rollout of controversial wire rope barriers across Victoria.

Opposition scrutiny of government spokesman Tim Smith said such a party was “grossly indulgent”.