Flak flies over Tas govt Gallipoli trip

The Tasmanian government is taking flak for overspending on a Gallipoli trip after
urging public servants to accept a pay freeze due to the global financial crisis.
The $300,000 trip for an outgoing cabinet minister and his wife, an upper-house MP,
two government staffers, three RSL representatives, three school teachers and six
school children has drawn fire from a public service union.
The 16-day trip includes a tour of the battlefields of Europe.
Tim Jacobson from the Health and Community Services Union says it is not necessary
to send a large Tasmanian contingent costing so much.
"Spending $300,000 on a trip to Gallipoli in a climate when the government is
attempting to take wage increases off their lowest paid employees is not
acceptable," Mr Jacobson said on Friday.
Tasmania's Veterans Affairs Minister Graeme Sturges said the trip would be an
intensive 16-day event providing an invaluable education to the children and
opportunities for the officials to promote the state and conduct certain ceremonies.
"I think what we need to do is separate the importance of this trip from the
challenges that we are currently facing in terms of expenditure in this state," Mr
Sturges told ABC radio on Friday.
Mr Sturges said the trip was planned to recognise and commemorate the service of the
many thousands of Tasmanians who served on the Western Front and at Gallipoli.
Mr Jacobson said the government should be able to do that by sending fewer people
for about $50,000.
"That rest of that money could have been used to save public-sector jobs," he said.