In late 2024, the Department of Finance (Finance) completed the Review of Australian Government Travel Policies (the Review) on behalf of the Australian Government. The Government committed to undertaking the Review as part of the Aviation White Paper released on 26 August 2024.
The Review found that overall, the travel policies are generally fit for purpose and deliver significant savings for government. For air travel alone, benchmarking suggests the Commonwealth has saved $260 million in the two years from January 2022 to December 2023 when compared to public rates. However, consideration of the feedback and analysis of the data has identified a range of proposed improvements for consideration. For example, from early 2026, Finance will regularly publish flight booking data for each Commonwealth entity. A proposed new Travel Policy will also make clear that flight upgrades must not be accepted by public servants unless required for operational reasons.
The Government will not remove the requirement for ministerial approval on public servant travel above a certain threshold, which would have removed a key accountability safeguard if adopted. For example, accepting this recommendation would have meant that public servants in Finance would not have to seek ministerial approval for travel costing more than $50,000. Maintaining this level of oversight will ensure travel policies are consistently applied, and any deviations from the policy are promptly addressed.
Download the complete Report of the Review of Australian Government Travel Policies.
The Review made seven recommendations to the Government with regards to identified potential improvements. The actions and timelines associated with addressing the recommendations can be found in the Review of Australian Government Travel Policies – What We’re Doing.